All Blog Posts Tagged 'is' - Think Atheist2018-02-18T05:28:21Zhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profiles/blog/feed?tag=is&xn_auth=noFalse claims that there was always a Muslim consensus for a round Earthtag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-08-05:1982180:BlogPost:16317212017-08-05T13:27:17.000ZMuhammad alihttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/Muhammadali
Islamic apologists have failed to provide any evidence that Muhammad or the earliest Muslims knew that the Earth was round. In contrast, there is lots of evidence to show them believing the Earth to be flat.<br />
This evidence can be used as a foundation for other arguments concerning the flat Earth verses in the Qur'an, that they cause a justifiable suspicion that the author of the Qur'an was just as unaware as his nearby contemporaries about the shape of the Earth. It can also be used to make the…
Islamic apologists have failed to provide any evidence that Muhammad or the earliest Muslims knew that the Earth was round. In contrast, there is lots of evidence to show them believing the Earth to be flat.<br />
This evidence can be used as a foundation for other arguments concerning the flat Earth verses in the Qur'an, that they cause a justifiable suspicion that the author of the Qur'an was just as unaware as his nearby contemporaries about the shape of the Earth. It can also be used to make the point that it is a secondary major weakness of the Qur'an to use such language when it will inevitably encourage 7th century Muslims to maintain their false notion that the Earth is flat (and indeed for many centuries later for some Muslims, such as al-Suyuti in his Tafsir al-Jalalyn, and ibn Kathir in his Tafsir[15]).Equuleus - the little horsetag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-07-09:1982180:BlogPost:16307002017-07-09T05:08:15.000ZBrad Snowderhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder
<table bgcolor="#FFFFFF" border="0">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/equulus_01.jpg"><img align="right" alt="" class="alignright wp-image-11883" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/equulus_01.jpg" width="150"></img></a> Equuleus is the ancient designation for this small constellation. Even Claudius Ptolemy included it on his maps as the little horse. It's the second smallest constellation, the record for smallest being held by the southern cross. It's usually drawn as just a horses head,…</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/equulus_01.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/equulus_01.jpg" alt="" width="150" class="alignright wp-image-11883"/></a>Equuleus is the ancient designation for this small constellation. Even Claudius Ptolemy included it on his maps as the little horse. It's the second smallest constellation, the record for smallest being held by the southern cross. It's usually drawn as just a horses head, sometimes peaking out from behind Pegasus. Maybe they're related, on the non-winged side of the family. <br/>
<br/>
</span><span style="color:#000000;">The back-story is sketchy but there is a Greek version where a centaur's free-love daughter named Hippe was guilty of accidentally "getting pregnant without permission." To help her avoid punishment, The moon (Diana) turned her into a little horse. Then she found Pegasus and asked for help hiding her in the mountains.<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/equ2.gif"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/equ2.gif" alt="" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11905"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/equulus_03.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/equulus_03.jpg" alt="" width="150" class="alignright wp-image-11890"/></a>The love-child's absent father is reportedly Aeolus, which is The Wind and you know how unreliable he is. Blows into town, blows out. The baby, Melanippe, is born from the wind and a horse, but she isn't a constellation or anything.<br />
<br />
</span> <span style="color:#000000;">Hippe raised young Melanippe up in the mountains, probably with a dog named Zippe.<br />
<br />
</span> <span style="color:#000000;">Equuleus has no bright stars, no bright deep sky objects, and no meteor showers. The Chinese call it the "Wise Black Tortoise of the North" which would make more sense if there was also a foolish white tortoise of the south. Sadly, there is not. There is however the Wealthy Azure Dragon of the East, the Powerful White Tiger of the West, and the Lucky Vermillion Bird of the South. If you want my advice, I would avoid the Smelly Green Egg Roll of Regret.<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/equulus_04.jpg"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/equulus_04.jpg?w=640" alt="" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11900"/></a>
<span style="color:#000000;">Carpe Noctem<br/>
<a href="http://skywiseunlimited.com">Skywise Unlimited</a></span><br />
</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Horrifiedtag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-07-02:1982180:BlogPost:16303072017-07-02T16:35:35.000ZMary smithhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/Marysmith
<p>I'm horrified the way you believe you have the right to judge people and trash them at will </p>
<p>You believe in god. You see them everytime you look in the mirror. You have cast off all restraint and</p>
<p>Falsely believe that puts you into a safer position. Truth is the rock on which to stand and hope is the </p>
<p>Anchor of the soul. Where is your truth and hope ? </p>
<p>I'm horrified the way you believe you have the right to judge people and trash them at will </p>
<p>You believe in god. You see them everytime you look in the mirror. You have cast off all restraint and</p>
<p>Falsely believe that puts you into a safer position. Truth is the rock on which to stand and hope is the </p>
<p>Anchor of the soul. Where is your truth and hope ? </p>Eridanus - the rivertag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-07-01:1982180:BlogPost:16304942017-07-01T21:48:51.000ZBrad Snowderhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder
<table bgcolor="#FFFFFF" border="0">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/eridadus_01.jpg"><img align="right" alt="" class="alignright wp-image-11850" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/eridadus_01.jpg?w=250" width="250"></img></a> Eridanus is a long narrow constellation winding like a river from Orion's kneecap to points farther south. It is probably named after Eridu, an ancient city in in old Babylonia. Over the ages various cultures have given it various names and backstories, almost all of them…</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/eridadus_01.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/eridadus_01.jpg?w=250" alt="" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11850"/></a>Eridanus is a long narrow constellation winding like a river from Orion's kneecap to points farther south. It is probably named after Eridu, an ancient city in in old Babylonia. Over the ages various cultures have given it various names and backstories, almost all of them river-ish.
</span> <span style="color:#000000;">At the southern end of Eridanus the bright blue star Achernar marks the end of the river. The name means "End of the River." It's one of the brightest stars in the whole sky and it's also one of the hottest.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">The Eridanus Supervoid is a large desolate area without much in the way of any points of interest. If you are crossing that area, take plenty of water, a sweater, and use the restroom before you leave. It's about a billion light years across, making it the second biggest known void in the observable universe. It is also the region where a "cold spot" in the cosmic microwave background has led some bold and possibly insane cosmologists to suggest it could be the site of a quantum entanglement between our universe and another universe. Tempering this claim is the fact that some astronomers will say anything to make an impression on the first date.<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/eridadus_02.jpg"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/eridadus_02.jpg?w=640" alt="" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11853"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/eridadus_03.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/eridadus_03.jpg" alt="" width="100" class="alignright wp-image-11855"/></a>The star Epsilon Eridani has a planet with a real name. In 2015 the International Astronomy Union, the same mischievous amalgam of malcontents that devalued properties on Pluto, officially chose the name Ægir, which had been proposed by a class of 8th graders at Mountainside Middle School in Colbert, Washington. The kids also supplied an improved name for the star, Rán. The names refer to a husband and wife team in Norse mythology. Rán is the goddess of the sea and Ægir is the god of the ocean. Hmmm... sea, ocean, I thought those were two names for the same thing, like car and automobile. But then what do I know, I drive a Fjord.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/ic-2118.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/ic-2118.jpg?w=250" alt="" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11868"/></a>IC 2118 in Eridanus is called the Witch Head Nebula. It's a worthy name. What we are seeing here is a supernova remnant, which is to say, star-kaboom leftovers. She has a lot of matted stardust in her hair, and freshly born t-tauri stars extruding from her nose. Her breath emits dangerous concentrations of carbon monoxide. She appears to be staring longingly at the Orion Nebula. Nothin' says lovin' like somethin' from the coven.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">Spock's home planet Vulcan is reportedly orbiting around the star 40 Eridani A, or it will be at least until it gets destroyed thanks to some renegade Romulans. Cataclysmic events in your own time-line may vary. Vulcans periodically return home to mate, a ritual known as "Pon Farr" which it turns out is not as enjoyable as it sounds. Spock has to hook up with his childhood paramour or he will experience severe side-effects. Certain Vulcan organs will turn blue and I guess it's quite painful.<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/eridadus_spock.jpg"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/eridadus_spock.jpg?w=640" alt="" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11866"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;">Carpe Noctem. Oh, and um, Love Long and Perspire.<br/>
<a href="http://skywiseunlimited.com">Skywise Unlimited</a></span><br />
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Fornax - the furnacetag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-06-25:1982180:BlogPost:16297882017-06-25T21:14:17.000ZBrad Snowderhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder
<table bgcolor="#FFFFFF" border="0">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/lady-beaker.jpg"><img align="right" alt="" class="alignright wp-image-11818" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/lady-beaker.jpg?w=250" width="250"></img></a> The constellation Fornax is one those created by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in the mid 1700's to commemorate the enlightenment's greatest hits. It represents the little furnaces that chemists use in the laboratory to cook things you shouldn't eat. I'm sure you can order one on…</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/lady-beaker.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/lady-beaker.jpg?w=250" alt="" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11818"/></a>The constellation Fornax is one those created by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in the mid 1700's to commemorate the enlightenment's greatest hits. It represents the little furnaces that chemists use in the laboratory to cook things you shouldn't eat. I'm sure you can order one on Amazon or maybe talk to your local meth dealer. <br/>
<br/>
</span><span style="color:#000000;">One of the things I find interesting in that general direction of these stars is the Fornax Void. It's a whole bunch of nothing. And I mean a major amount of nothing. The universe on the biggest scale is like a bubble bath where the surface of the bubbles is clusters of clusters of galaxies. In Fornax we see a huge area where stuff mostly isn't.<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/fornaxvoid.gif"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/fornaxvoid.gif?w=640" alt="" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11820"/></a></span></div>
<span><br />
<span style="color:#000000;">Back to the stuff that is. The Fornax Dwarf galaxy is a community of mostly elderly stars that orbit the Milky Way at a safe distance. Some dwarf galaxies are being cannibalized by our own galaxy because in space the big ones eat the little ones. For instance, the Fornax galaxy itself appears to be munching on a few globular clusters. Some day the Milky Way might get around to swallowing the Fornax galaxy, perhaps after we run out of the snacks within easier reach.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/ngc1365.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/ngc1365.jpg?w=150" alt="NGC 1365" title="NGC 1365" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-11823"/></a><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/ngc1097.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/ngc1097.jpg?w=150" alt="NGC 1097" title="NGC 1097" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-11822"/></a>NGC 1097 and NGC 1365 are both barred spiral galaxies in Fornax. Both are considered Seyfert galaxies which means they are showing signs in their cores of some sort of supermassive blackhole gastroesophageal reflux disease, i.e. cosmic heartburn.<br />
<br />
</span> <span style="color:#000000;">Galaxies eat everything they can but it's not always good for them. A lot of middle-aged galaxies have cores that are unusually bright as though the supermassive blackholes in their centers have been swallowing stars in unhealthy quantities. It's not as bad as quasars though, which are when younger galaxies are pigging out like some county fair eating contest. Seyferts aren't that bad but it's still pretty gross.<br />
</span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/for.gif"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/for.gif?w=640" alt="" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11831"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/galaxys8teardown.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/galaxys8teardown.jpg?w=250" alt="" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11816"/></a>UDFj-39546284 is in Fornax and it is a classic example of a proto-galaxy, a galaxy wannabee. It's the sort of thing we find in the crap-strewn pre-galactic era of the early universe. Back then gravity was still trying to assemble galaxies from the bits and pieces and parts, without the benefit of properly translated instructions. There always seems to be a few parts left over but everything works anyway so what the hell.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">Carpe Noctem<br/>
<a href="http://skywiseunlimited.com">Skywise Unlimited</a></span><br />
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Gemini - the twinstag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-06-18:1982180:BlogPost:16297732017-06-18T05:58:30.000ZBrad Snowderhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder
<table bgcolor="#FFFFFF" border="0">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/gemini_01.jpg"><img align="right" alt="" class="alignright wp-image-11777" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/gemini_01.jpg?w=200" width="200"></img></a> The constellation of Gemini represents the twin sons of Jupiter, whose names are Castor and Pollux. Those two boys are also represented by the bright stars that are drawn as the heads of the figures when you connect the dots. Ptolemy added Gemini to his maps a couple of…</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/gemini_01.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/gemini_01.jpg?w=200" alt="" width="200" class="alignright wp-image-11777"/></a>The constellation of Gemini represents the twin sons of Jupiter, whose names are Castor and Pollux. Those two boys are also represented by the bright stars that are drawn as the heads of the figures when you connect the dots. Ptolemy added Gemini to his maps a couple of thousand years ago when he was the head honcho of the university in Alexandria, Egypt during its heyday. <br/>
<br/>
</span><span style="color:#000000;">The association of these stars with twins goes way back before that, at least to the Babylonians except they called them Meshlamtaea and Lugalirra. To the Babylonians they were a couple of mischievous gods but to the Greeks they were twin sons, same mother, different fathers. Like a lot of Greek stories, the details of just how that worked are kind of sketchy.<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/gem.gif"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/gem.gif?w=640" alt="" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11775"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;">Castor is designated as alpha which means it's the brightest except it's clearly not. That's kind of messed up but best not to dwell on such things. On closer examination and analysis Castor is shown to be six stars all buzzing around each other in complicated and chaotic orbits, a whole family unto itself. Don't tell that to your astrologer or I'm guessing they'll work it into your chart and charge you extra. Pollux, which is designated beta although the brighter of the pair, is an only child and an orange giant.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/m35.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/m35.jpg?w=200" alt="" width="200" class="alignright wp-image-11780"/></a>M35 is a pretty decent open cluster, a group of newly born stars whose mother is a nebula of mostly hydrogen. The cluster is about a half of a degree wide which is a lot more degrees than it sounds. You'll need a low power eyepiece to fit it all into one view. In my log book I describe it as "a bunch of stars." Look for it just off of the toes of Castor's foot. It's like he's kicking a soccer ball, or a foot ball, or volley ball, or I don't know, some kind of sportly ball which has been decorated with a bunch of stars.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">The Eskimo Nebula should probably be renamed the Inuit Nebula out of respect for those peoples because Inuit is was they are. It is also known as the Clown Face Nebula so not a whole lot of respect there for either the Inuit or for Clowns.<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/eskimo.jpg"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/eskimo.jpg?w=640" alt="" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11787"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/ic443shobig.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/ic443shobig.jpg?w=250" alt="" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11951"/></a>The Jellyfish Nebula is a supernova remnant. There is something weird about it, besides looking like a jellyfish. It is a bubble split into two halves, and they are different sizes. What's the deal there? If you splash around in the bath the bubbles can split into two bubbles of different sizes, but that's not what is happening here. There are two half-bubbles. In the middle of the mess is a neutron star and those things are known for pulling pranks like this so I would start the investigation by calling it in for questioning. On the other hand there is a suspicious wall of hydrogen in the vicinity of one of the sides that is likely hampering the full bubblization process. So I would definitely send a forensic team over there to gather evidence as well. Then probably let the neutron star go with a warning.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">Aristotle reported seeing Jupiter occult a star in Gemini which is interesting because we can pinpoint that event as December 5, 337 BCE. I once saw an eclipse of the sun in Gemini and we can pinpoint that event as July 11, 1991 CE.<br />
<br />
</span> <span style="color:#000000;">William Herschel discovered Uranus in Gemini and Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in Gemini. We can pinpoint both of those events if you feel pinpointing things is really necessary.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">Geminid Meteors arrive to joyous acclaim each year around December 14. The shower is somewhat unique in that it is caused by the debris of a passing asteroid as opposed to a comet. Some asteroids have identity issues and behave like comets, not that I'm judging. Be who you are, or be who you think you are. Let society deal with the debris.<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/twin-astronauts.jpg"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/twin-astronauts.jpg?w=640" alt="" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11789"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;">People born under the sign of Gemini are sometimes twins but usually not.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">Carpe Noctem<br/>
<a href="http://skywiseunlimited.com">Skywise Unlimited</a></span><br />
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Grus - the cranetag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-06-11:1982180:BlogPost:16299062017-06-11T04:39:43.000ZBrad Snowderhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder
<table bgcolor="#FFFFFF" border="0">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/grus_01.jpg"><img align="right" class="alignright wp-image-11741" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/grus_01.jpg" width="250"></img></a> The constellation Grus represents a crane. Please note that we mean the large gangling-legged fish-eating bird, not the big load-lifting construction machine.</span> <span style="color:#000000;">We're basically talking three stars here so you can sketch just about anything with…</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/grus_01.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/grus_01.jpg" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11741"/></a>The constellation Grus represents a crane. Please note that we mean the large gangling-legged fish-eating bird, not the big load-lifting construction machine.
</span> <span style="color:#000000;">We're basically talking three stars here so you can sketch just about anything with a bit of imagination. The brightest stars are named after parts of a fish because the area was carved from what was once part of Piscis Austrinus.<br />
<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/gru.jpg"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/gru.jpg" alt="" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11755"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/grus_02.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/grus_02.jpg?w=250" alt="" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11747"/></a>Unfortunately there are no big bird stories to go with the name because it was added around the year 1600 by Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman in an effort to backfill the southern sky. This makes me think that a backhoe might have been an appropriate and interesting allegory for the group.<br />
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</span><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/sparetyre_01.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/sparetyre_01.jpg?w=250" alt="" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11751"/></a>Grus has a lot of interesting galaxies and other cosmic flotsam and jetsam, including the Spare Tyre Nebula, which is just Spare "Tire" with an international flavor. It's a good name for an older star that has sort of let itself go.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">Next time you are trying come up with a good name for something important, and you are realizing how hard that can be, remember this. The Chinese called the stars of Grus "Baijiu" which basically means "Industrial-Sized Garbage Bin."<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/grus_03.jpg"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/grus_03.jpg" alt="" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11756"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;">Carpe Noctem<br/>
<a href="http://skywiseunlimited.com">Skywise Unlimited</a></span><br />
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Hercules - hercules the herotag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-06-04:1982180:BlogPost:16285082017-06-04T13:44:54.000ZBrad Snowderhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder
<table bgcolor="#FFFFFF" border="0">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/season_01b.jpg"><img align="right" alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-11693" height="300" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/season_01b.jpg" width="250"></img></a> Hercules is a major constellation and its story goes all the way back to when the ancient Greeks did a major reboot of Gilgamesh. Ptolemy included Hercules in his collection a couple thousand years ago which is how I heard about it. …<br></br> <br></br>
</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/season_01b.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/season_01b.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="300" class="alignright size-full wp-image-11693"/></a>Hercules is a major constellation and its story goes all the way back to when the ancient Greeks did a major reboot of Gilgamesh. Ptolemy included Hercules in his collection a couple thousand years ago which is how I heard about it. <br/>
<br/>
</span><span style="color:#000000;">Hercules was a magnificent bastard. His father was a god which right away spells trouble. His father's wife resented him, as she did all of her husband's bastards, and that spelled even more trouble. Squabbling with relatives led to several hilarious misunderstandings which then led to Herc having to perform in a dozen zany episodes altogether resembling the first season of a doomed sit-com. The show stars Hercules as The Hero, Iolaus as the side-kick, and King Eurystheus who is kind of a dick. Then of course there are occasional celebrity guest stars.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;"><b>The Labors of Hercules</b><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">1. Skin the Nemean Lion<br/>
Everyone knew that this lion's skin was impenetrable. So arrows and swords were useless. Hercules solved this one by choking the lion to death. Then he skinned the magical beast but the story sort of glosses over a major plot hole since his knife supposedly wouldn't have been able to cut it.<br />
<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/lion_daktari.jpg"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/lion_daktari.jpg?w=640" alt="" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11698"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;">2. Kill the Lernean Hydra<br/>
This multi-headed beast lived in a swamp. The problem was that if you cut off one head it just grew back, or possibly grew back double, depending on who you ask. Even worse, one of the heads was truly un-killable. To deal with the hydra, Hercules got his side-kick nephew to tag along and burn the bloody necks with a torch as fast as Herc could lop off the heads. That kept them from growing back. Then he took the invulnerable head and buried it under a big rock. Since the nephew had helped, this episode was widely panned by the critics and an additional episode was scripted with less screen time for the nephew. To appeal to the youth demographic, they gave Herc a spiffy chariot and the nephew was re-cast as the chauffeur.<br />
<br />
</span> <span style="color:#000000;">3. Capture the Hind of Ceryneia<br/>
The Hind is a deer and Ceryneia is just the place where it hung out. The issue here is that the Hind is a pet deer and it belongs to Diana, the goddess of the moon. Hercules chased it around for a year and finally wounded it which allowed him to grab it. Diana was pissed at first but then Herc was kind of adorable and had lots of muscles and a big dumb face and all. She healed the deer and let him keep it.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/piggy.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/piggy.jpg?w=250" alt="" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11700"/></a>4. Capture the Erymanthean Boar<br/>
The boar was big, mean, and a rather smelly old pig. On the way to find it Hercules has a sub-plot where he steals some wine from some centaurs and they find out so he kills them, thus bringing in a discussion of moral relativism. Back to the main story, he finds the boar and he chases it into some deep snow, where boars don't run so well. Herc 1, Pig 0.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">5. Clean the Augean Stables<br/>
There were thousands of cows and other livestock in the Augean Stables and Herc had to muck out all the manure in one day while the critters were out to pasture. It's a dirty job so Herc made a side deal with King Augean to be paid in steaks if he could do it. Then he diverted a nearby river to flush out the poop. King Augean refused to pay so Hercules sued and the bulk of the episode is a courtroom drama. Herc produced a surprise witness and won the case but then the manure task was ruled invalid due to "raising the steaks" and they ordered another episode. Between this one and the case of the nosy nephew, the original 10 episodes were stretched to 12.<br />
<br />
</span> <span style="color:#000000;">6. Get rid of the Stymphalian Birds<br/>
A large flock of birds can be pretty annoying, especially to farmers. They eat everything and let's face it, a pile of bird droppings is even more disgusting than a stable full of cow manure. Athena gave Herc some castanets to clickety clack and scare the birds out of the trees where he could shoot at them with a slingshot. These were fierce and scary birds in their own right but Herc's constant clacking was too much for them and they flew away.<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/birds_01.jpg"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/birds_01.jpg?w=640" alt="" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11704"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;">7. Capture the Cretan Bull<br/>
This episode was clearly designed to generate a spin-off series. Hercules is able to wrestle and deliver the beast right away, but then the king lets it go. The bull has a whole series of adventures of its own, including a romantic encounter with the king's daughter that results in the birth of a half-man half-bull guy called Minotaur who hosts his own holiday special.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/mred.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/mred.jpg?w=250" alt="" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11706"/></a>8. Capture the Horses of Diomedes<br/>
The horses were rather spirited and not at all cooperative, but that wasn't the real challenge. It turned out that the horses were owned and there was a band of capable wranglers who were not about to give them up without a fight. Herc bested them of course and got the goods.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">9. Fetch the Belt of Hippolyte<br/>
Hippolyte was the queen of the Amazon Warriors who were fierce supporters of women's rights. It's best not to make any wise cracks about Hippolyte's name, or the size of her belt. Hercules knew he couldn't just beat up the Amazon Queen and take her belt. How would it look? Couldn't he just order his own clothing accessories from Amazon? Anyway, things looked good when he finally met the queen and she said she would give him the belt, after all he was adorable etc. But then thanks to hi-jinks by the gods the Amazon tribe attacked Herc and his manly men. The final scene is a big bloody battle and Herc comes out of the mess with the belt. People who liked this episode also liked Shark Tank.<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/wonderwoman_02.jpg"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/wonderwoman_02.jpg?w=640" alt="" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11708"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/bustercrab.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/bustercrab.jpg?w=250" alt="" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11709"/></a>10. Round Up Geryon's Cattle<br/>
Geryon is a monster with three heads and three legs. That's pretty weird but then he was born by being spewed from the severed neck of the Medussa. He lived a quiet normal life on an island with a bunch of cows and a two-headed dog. Hercules was tasked with stealing the cows. The plan was simple. Land with a small fleet, use an army of cowboys to herd the cows aboard, and sail off without waking the dog. Needless to say, the dog attacked Hercules immediately and Geryon joined the fray right after. Herc dispatched the monster and his hound and made off with the beef, but that was the easy part. On the way back a couple of ornery low-down no-good stinking cussing thieving cattle rustling dirty bushwhackers tried to take the cows. Also the prize bull escaped and caused a lot of damage in a small town. Other plot twists make for a feature-length episode but Herc sorts it all out.<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/cattle_35.jpg"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/cattle_35.jpg" alt="" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11711"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;">11. Steal the Apples of the Hesperides<br/>
This is one of the two bonus episodes and it really qualifies as a mini-series unto itself. At first Hercules goes running around town like a frat boy on spring break. After a few fights, light vandalism and heavy drinking, he finally gets to the garden with the apples. They are being guarded by a dragon and the dedicated sorority sisters of I-Tappa-Keg. Hercules tricks Atlas into getting the apples for him and then he takes the magical fruits back to the king. But the joke's on everyone because Athena steals them back again and returns them to the garden. Hercules says "stupid apples" and everyone has a big laugh. Fade out.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">12. Dognap Cerberus<br/>
In the season finale Hercules has to go down to the underworld and steal a three-headed pit bull. The underworld, aka Hades, is exclusively the realm of dead people and in some cases their multi-headed companion animals. Cerberus is a hideous monster although he was quite cute when he was little. He stands guard at the entrance of Hades to discourage living trespassers. So down goes Hercules to the gates of hell, fighting various monsters and ghosts and what-not along the way. He eventually meets Pluto who is a real god, not a dwarf god. Pluto says Herc can take the hound if he can overpower him with brute strength, no slipping a pill in a lump of peanut butter. This turns out to be Herc's toughest challenge but he somehow gets Cerberus in a triple headlock which gains the dog's trust, thus getting Herc's face licked in three places at once.<br />
<br />
</span> <span style="color:#000000;">In a epilogue scene Hercules returns Cerberus to Pluto. So hell is protected from bad people trying to get in. It's a wonder the series wasn't renewed.<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/her.gif"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/her.gif" alt="" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11713"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;">Now for the Astronomy. To find Hercules in the sky, look up sometime between April and November, preferably at night. The bright star up high is Vega. the semi-circle farther north is the Northern Crown. Halfway in between Vega and the Crown you'll see the Keystone, which is our hero's big hairy chest.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">Look carefully at the right side of the Keystone. Just under his armpit is a fuzzy patch. This is one of the most awesome things in the whole sky. It's M13, a globular cluster with hundreds of thousands of stars, and for starhoppers in the northern part of our planet there is arguably no better target. It's my favorite anyway. Whenever I build a new telescope M13 is "first light."<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">There is another globular in Hercules, M92. Sure, go ahead and look at it. Now go back and look at M13 again. See? Awesome sauce.<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/m13_01.jpg"><img title="M13" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/m13_01.jpg" alt="" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11715"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;">One more thing about Hercules. It's the direction in which our solar system is currently traveling.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">Carpe Noctem<br/>
<a href="http://skywiseunlimited.com">Skywise Unlimited</a></span><br />
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Horologium - the clocktag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-05-28:1982180:BlogPost:16282332017-05-28T14:30:00.000ZBrad Snowderhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder
<table bgcolor="#FFFFFF" border="0">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color: #000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/horolgium_clock.jpg"><img align="right" alt="" class="alignright wp-image-11657" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/horolgium_clock.jpg?w=250" width="250"></img></a> The constellation Horologium represents a clock and usually is portrayed as one of the old-timey types. Nicolas Louis de Lacaille created it and drew it as a grandfather hall clock with a pendulum and weights.</span> <span style="color: #000000;">Lacaille added 14…</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color: #000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/horolgium_clock.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/horolgium_clock.jpg?w=250" alt="" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11657"/></a>The constellation Horologium represents a clock and usually is portrayed as one of the old-timey types. Nicolas Louis de Lacaille created it and drew it as a grandfather hall clock with a pendulum and weights.</span> <span style="color: #000000;">Lacaille added 14 constellations to the map in an effort to flesh out the southern sky. In general he used them to commemorate important inventions that help usher in the age of enlightenment. Reliable clocks were significant in that regard so it seems only fair that the device be included.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="color: #000000;">If you view the stars of this area it's possible that Alpha Horologii is the only star you'll see and it's not terribly bright. It's an orange giant and in allegorical drawings it usually winds up being the brass bob at the end of the clock's pendulum.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="color: #000000;">There is a globular cluster in this direction called Arp-Madore 1. It is currently the most distant globular cluster known to orbit our Milky Way galaxy. It's almost 400,000 light years away. Considering that the bright disk of our galaxy is a mere 100,000 light years across, that gives you some scale of the big halo of crap orbiting around us. Imagine living on a planet in Arp-Madore 1 and looking up at night and seeing the full glory of the Milky Way. Except in a globular cluster most planets probably don't have anything resembling "night."<br/> <br/></span> <span style="color: #000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/hor.gif"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/hor.gif?w=250" alt="" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11664"/></a>The Horologium Supercluster is off in the direction of Horologium appropriately, and it is one of the biggest architectural features in the universe. It is composed of more than 5,000 clusters of galaxies. That's more than 300,000 galaxies, and each galaxy has billions, hundreds of billions, or trillions of stars. Our own galaxy is not one of them however. The Horologium Supercluster is our local supercluster's next door neighbor. Be sure to wave. Our own galaxy's address is part of the Laniakea Supercluster, which contains the Virgo Supercluster, which use to be thought of as our whole entire local supercluster but is now thought to be only a subdivision of the Laniakea Supercluster.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="color: #000000;">Both the Horologium and Laniakea Superclusters contain about 10^<sup>17</sup> solar masses each, which even on cosmic scales is considered a shit-load.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="color: #000000;">Carpe Noctem<br/> <a href="http://skywiseunlimited.com">Skywise Unlimited</a></span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Hydra - the water snaketag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-05-21:1982180:BlogPost:16279322017-05-21T15:22:43.000ZBrad Snowderhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder
<table bgcolor="#FFFFFF" border="0">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/hydraurn.jpg"><img align="right" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-11622" height="200" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/hydraurn.jpg?w=300" width="300"></img></a> The largest of all 88 constellations is called Hydra, the water snake. It's huge. It forms a line that wraps around the sky all the way from the stars of Cancer to those of Libra. If you go out and see the toothy business end just starting to rise in the east, you will wait…</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/hydraurn.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/hydraurn.jpg?w=300" alt="" width="300" height="200" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-11622"/></a>The largest of all 88 constellations is called Hydra, the water snake. It's huge. It forms a line that wraps around the sky all the way from the stars of Cancer to those of Libra. If you go out and see the toothy business end just starting to rise in the east, you will wait about six hours for its tail to clear the horizon. <br/>
<br/>
</span><span style="color:#000000;">Hydra is a girl snake and she has little cousin down south. He's a boy snake named Hydrus. The boy is new in town but Hydra goes way back. Ptolemy included it in his collection about 2000 years ago, but it can be traced back at least to the ancient Babylonians. That's a long time ago. Remember Babylon was ancient history to Ptolemy.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/100_headed_dragon___lineart_by_kinniku_g.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/100_headed_dragon___lineart_by_kinniku_g.jpg?w=300" alt="" width="300" height="200" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-11636"/></a>Hydra is sometimes a multi-headed monster, or sometimes not, depending on which hero is telling the story. The most told story is the Greek version which is how Hercules had to fight Hydra while Cancer the Crab was pinching at Herc's ankles at the same time. Hercules and his favorite nephew killed the mighty multi-headed worm by chopping off the heads one by one and burning the bloodied necks so the heads couldn't grow back. One of the heads refused to die so Herc buried it under a rock. Then they all had a tasty dinner of boiled crab legs. The story of Hercules and Hydra has persisted through the ages because the challenge of battling multiple problems that grow back as fast as you can cut them off is something anyone in middle management can relate to.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">Around the time of the autumn equinox the sun has dropped down near Hydra's head and thus reenacts the Herculean battle. Perhaps a better characterization is that Hercules represents the yearly battle that the sun has with the snake, since the sun's battles with Hydra predate the Greek stories. It seems like every culture on Earth has some version of a hero meeting a mighty reptile.<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/hya.gif"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/hya.gif?w=640" alt="" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11620"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;">The battle doesn't goes well for the beloved hero. He fights bravely but he loses, and the dangerous reptile then rules the realm. The hero lies nearly motionless at the nadir of his tale. These are the cold, dark days of winter. But alas he awakens.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/analemma_photo.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/analemma_photo.jpg?w=300" alt="" width="300" class="alignright wp-image-11638"/></a>For the next forty days the hero rehabilitates. Even more, he spends this chapter being educated, preparing, elevating his capacity to make war on his enemy. The hero arises from the depths to once again meet the monster, this time on the spring equinox. Darkness is defeated in spectacular fashion. The crippled reptile is then cast down to the depths, exiled out of sight below the Earth. The longer, brighter days return. The victorious hero rises high above the realm bringing light, and life-giving energy to the world, which usually celebrates by grilling some kind of meat, maybe crab legs.<br />
<br />
</span> <span style="color:#000000;">Alphard is the lonely bright star in Hydra. Its name mean "The Solitary One." It is extremely young compared to our sun but it is mature for its age. That's because it has about three times the mass of our sun and it has used all that extra weight to hurry along the stellar evolutionary process.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/m083.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/m083.jpg?w=300" alt="" width="300" height="225" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-11630"/></a>M83 is a nice face-on barred spiral galaxy in Hydra, also known as the Southern Pinwheel. It's only about 15 million light years away, which is practically next door in galactic terms. You can even see it with binoculars. Which of course means that critters living there can see our galaxy in binoculars as well.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">Galaxies come in clusters and there is a doozy in this direction known as the Hydra Cluster. It has more than 150 galaxies packed in a box about 10 million light years wide. The Hydra Cluster is also thought to contain an extraordinary amount of dark matter, whatever that is. Anyway, the whole cluster is just a small part of the Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster which is a cluster of clusters of galaxies.<br />
<br />
</span> <span style="color:#000000;">The Universe appears to be made out of shit-loads of superclusters that all overlap each other like soap bubbles. Our own bubble is called the Virgo Supercluster and it has about a hundred clusters of galaxies. But here's the latest news. Recent observations seem to indicate that the Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster and Virgo Supercluster are both just small parts of an even bigger supercluster known as the Laniakea Supercluster. And that mega-monster of 100,000 galaxies represents one tiny little speck of the universe.<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/local.gif"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/local.gif?w=640" alt="" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11633"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;">Carpe Noctem<br/>
<a href="http://skywiseunlimited.com">Skywise Unlimited</a></span><br />
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Hydrus - the male water snaketag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-05-13:1982180:BlogPost:16275272017-05-13T22:52:44.000ZBrad Snowderhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder
<table bgcolor="#FFFFFF" border="0">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/watersnake_01.jpg"><img align="right" alt="watersnake" class="alignright wp-image-11595" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/watersnake_01.jpg" width="250"></img></a> There is a southern constellation called Hydrus which is not to be confused with the constellation Hydra. They are both water snakes but Hydrus it the lesser water snake in both size and mythical importance, and also it is male. Having two slithering sky serpents confirms…</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/watersnake_01.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/watersnake_01.jpg" alt="watersnake" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11595"/></a>There is a southern constellation called Hydrus which is not to be confused with the constellation Hydra. They are both water snakes but Hydrus it the lesser water snake in both size and mythical importance, and also it is male. Having two slithering sky serpents confirms the old adage that "snakes travel in pairs" which is a phrase I assume actually refers to con-artists and other capricious mountebanks. <br/>
<br/>
</span><span style="color:#000000;">When sea-faring Dutch explorers sailed south they needed to find their way across new skies. It just makes it that much harder to navigate the oceans if your team is constantly asking "Which star? That star? That star there? Or that one? That one?" etc. So they sharpened their quills and dipped them in ink and began scribbling little dots and bigger dots and dotted lines on parchment. Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman were especially industrious in this regard and when they got back to Amsterdam they met the preacher-astronomer Petrus Plancius who was there hiding from the Spanish Inquisition.<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/sketchy.jpg"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/sketchy.jpg?w=640" alt="" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11600"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/planciusglobe_03.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/planciusglobe_03.jpg?w=250" alt="" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11606"/></a>Plancius added Hydrus to his collection in 1598 and it quickly caught on with others who were tired of having big blank areas on their maps. Technically speaking, the Dutch guys simply called it "The Water Snake" in Flemish, but then a French guy called it "The Boy Water Snake" in French and that made more sense because there was already a water snake of the female persuasion up north. Later everyone converted everything to Latin because nobody speaks that.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">Beta Hydri is arguably the only bright-ish star anywhere close to the south celestial pole. Yaay.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/hyi.gif"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/hyi.gif?w=250" alt="" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11601"/></a>Hydrus has one claim to fame in that it gets mentioned by Herman Melville in the classic south sea adventure, Moby Dick.<br />
<br />
</span> <span style="color:#000000;"><i>"And beneath the effulgent Antarctic skies I have boarded the Argo-Navis, and joined the chase against the starry Cetus far beyond the utmost stretch of Hydrus and the Flying Fish."</i><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">No one remembers the Melville quote because no one has ever actually read Moby Dick all the way through, except me and maybe one or two other people.<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/ishmael1.jpg"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/ishmael1.jpg" alt="" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11609"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;">Carpe Noctem<br/>
<a href="http://skywiseunlimited.com">Skywise Unlimited</a></span><br />
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Post Atheismtag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-05-12:1982180:BlogPost:16275182017-05-12T21:44:04.000ZAndrew Brownhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/AndrewBrown
<p>I have been on a philosophical journey since I learned the world is knowable. I take every opportunity to learn new skills, practice old skills and improve my knowledge to better understand myself, my perception, the subjective world, the objective world, other perspectives and how all of that seems to work together for what seems like eternity; 13.8 billion years is approximately eternity compared to a single human life.</p>
<p>My step father invited me to join his church bible study. I…</p>
<p>I have been on a philosophical journey since I learned the world is knowable. I take every opportunity to learn new skills, practice old skills and improve my knowledge to better understand myself, my perception, the subjective world, the objective world, other perspectives and how all of that seems to work together for what seems like eternity; 13.8 billion years is approximately eternity compared to a single human life.</p>
<p>My step father invited me to join his church bible study. I really admire this man for many reasons, chief among them, my mother loves him at least as much as myself. The church meetings revolve around 6 week sessions of focus. This section just happened to start off with Atheism! Of course it did...</p>
<p>A 15 minute lecture covering 6 "requirements" of the Atheist philosophy (I KNOW! It is a strawman. I see it.) The presenter gives us pillars of thought which support modern, humanist, scientifically informed Atheism. I don't debate the requirements or how they use Atheism or Atheist as I agree with most of the premises although they are obviously presented in a negative fashion. Lots of focus on the new Atheists; Dawkins, Harris and Hitchens' books were all referenced.</p>
<p>One comment struck me as very true;<br/>Presenter: "Do we all need God?"<br/>Person A: "Yes, definitely."</p>
<p>Presenter: "Do none of us need God?"<br/>Person B: "Yes, definitely."<br/>Thus, the answer is completely knowable depending on who you ask.<br/>Yet both Person A and Person B are both average people; reasonable, approachable, non-violent without serious threat. Both people have managed to live their lives and make it far enough to answer the question in their adult lives.</p>
<p>As an Atheist, I have no need for the God head.<br/>As a Humanist, I recognize I am not alone here and sometimes have to work with even the most devout believer.<br/>As a Step Son to a Believer, I recognize my step father is a peaceful, genuine man who holds the concept of God deep within himself, but does not press his idea on others further than questions and invitations.</p>
<p>So, as I sit at a table with 4 other intelligent, thinking men and notice we all face the same problem, "How do I understand all of 'THIS'?", I noticed the question again.</p>
<p>Do we need God?<br/>No, I do not. But maybe someone else does.</p>
<p>I can't tell another, "God isn't real", because God is real in their opinion. I know I do not want violence between us and as long as we both maintain the peace, there is eternal peace.<br/>I have come to accept their perspective and through listening to enough educated believers have come to appreciate the combination of emotional and intellectual arguments which makes them tick.</p>
<p>I may disagree with their interpretation, but I cannot force my perspective. Use the Socratic method to learn more.<br/>Be humble, know nothing, be ignorant, because the one who knows their ignorance is the wisest among us.</p>
<p>I am an atheist while being open to all perspectives so that I may grow and learn more about the amazing Cosmos stretching out to infinity right in front of my eyes.</p>Indus - the indiantag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-05-07:1982180:BlogPost:16265192017-05-07T05:52:16.000ZBrad Snowderhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder
<table bgcolor="#FFFFFF" border="0">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/dancer.jpg"><img align="right" alt="" class="alignright wp-image-11582" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/dancer.jpg?w=250" width="250"></img></a> The source of the name for the constellation Indus is a bit confusing. Many say it celebrates the indigenous tribes of the Americas. But there is some indication it originally referred to tribes in Madagascar. There are also indications it's about the tribes of the East Indies, or…</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/dancer.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/dancer.jpg?w=250" alt="" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11582"/></a>The source of the name for the constellation Indus is a bit confusing. Many say it celebrates the indigenous tribes of the Americas. But there is some indication it originally referred to tribes in Madagascar. There are also indications it's about the tribes of the East Indies, or maybe Africa. Petrus Plancius added it to his maps in 1597 based on drawings by some other Dutch guys and he wasn't clear on which despicable oppression by European conquerors he meant to commemorate. Regardless, most starhoppers I know associate it with Native Americans. <br/>
<br/>
</span><span style="color:#000000;">Unfortunately it's often drawn as a naked dude staggering around with a handful of arrows so it could just as easily represent that one guy on Sunset Blvd who talks to himself and pees into the street from the curb. I mean, if you are going to honor an ethnic group, give it some dignity.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">Like many Americans I have a native heritage and you can find where I've blogged extensively about that. I don't talk about it as much as I use to because people are sensitive to cultural appropriation these days. So now I just occasionally point out that my great great grandfather was a Cherokee princess, which makes me 1/16th gay.<br />
<br />
</span> <span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/rootbeer.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/rootbeer.jpg?w=250" alt="" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11578"/></a>It's always bothered me that people generalize and genericize the American Indian tribes. After all there is such a huge diversity of worldviews there. When it comes to cosmology, the fish-eaters of the northwest are so different than the big game hunters of the plains, and the planters of the southwest, and the corn-fed civilized villages of the southeast.<br />
<br />
</span> <span style="color:#000000;">Anthropologists can produce endless conjecture based entirely on where people get their groceries. This is true even today. Whether someone tells me they shop at Safeway, or at Whole Foods, or forage in vacant lots, it speaks volumes to how they frame their existence. Personally I prefer my dinner be GMO-enriched, gluten-packed, and patently processed. My tribe invented putting Coco-Puffs on ice cream.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/ind.gif"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/ind.gif?w=200" alt="" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11573"/></a>All of this highlights the fact that I don't have much to say about Indus. Its stars are like a handful of lost souls forced to wander a deserted wasteland, kind of like Oklahoma. There is an irregular galaxy to be found here called IC-5152 that astronomers find sort of interesting. It's 5.8 million light years away which is quite close, if you have a rather extreme notion of what it means to be close. IC-5152 is close enough that it might be part of our local group of galaxies, which is to say it's related to the Milky Way.<br />
<br />
</span> <span style="color:#000000;">I recommend you tell people your great great grandfather is from IC-5152. Tell it to the barista at Starbucks. That and $4.45 will get you a caramel macchiato.<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/galaxytribe.jpg"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/galaxytribe.jpg?w=640" alt="" width="640" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-11574"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;">Carpe Noctem<br/>
<a href="http://skywiseunlimited.com">Skywise Unlimited</a></span><br />
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Lacerta - the lizardtag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-30:1982180:BlogPost:16260152017-04-30T05:52:10.000ZBrad Snowderhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder
<table bgcolor="#FFFFFF" border="0">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/lizard.jpg"><img align="right" alt="lizard" class="alignright wp-image-11543" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/lizard.jpg?w=200" width="200"></img></a> There is a small constellation near Cassiopeia which looks like her but is a smaller "W" shape. It is Lacerta, which means lizard. It is considered part of the Perseus Group even although there is no lizard in that story. Johannes Hevelius named it in the late 1600's, I guess…</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/lizard.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/lizard.jpg?w=200" alt="lizard" width="200" class="alignright wp-image-11543"/></a>There is a small constellation near Cassiopeia which looks like her but is a smaller "W" shape. It is Lacerta, which means lizard. It is considered part of the Perseus Group even although there is no lizard in that story. Johannes Hevelius named it in the late 1600's, I guess because it just sounded cool and because the little critters are kind of adorable. Maybe the W reminded him of how the lizards wriggle along. The ancient Chinese called it the flying serpent, so you can exchange the wings for legs and there you go.</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/lac.jpg"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/lac.jpg" alt="lac" width="630" class="aligncenter wp-image-11552"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;">There is a star in Lacerta named EV Lacertae which is a flare star. Flares from our own sun erupt occasionally, sending huge plumes of hot hydrogen out into space, sometimes clobbering Earth in the process. Because the various parts of the sun don't all spin at the same rate, the magnetism gets tangled up like a mistreated Slinky spring. Eventually the spring energy fights back and tries its best to uncoil. You want to be standing way back when that happens.<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/mass-ejection.jpg"><img title="credit NASA" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/mass-ejection.jpg" alt="mass-ejection" width="630" class="aligncenter wp-image-11542"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;">The atmosphere on Earth and Venus do okay in spite of the violent outbursts, we protect ourselves by countering with our own humongous magnets. Mercury and Mars not so much. Meanwhile EV Lacertae is spinning extremely fast, tangling the magnetism to extremes, and also it's a rather young and rebellious, tantrum-prone little brat. Like a toddler in the toy aisle. I suggest we ignore it.<br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/kirkandgorn.jpg"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/kirkandgorn.jpg" alt="kirkandgorn" width="630" class="aligncenter wp-image-11549"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;">Carpe Noctem<br/>
<a href="http://skywiseunlimited.com">Skywise Unlimited</a></span><br />
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>The First Lietag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-24:1982180:BlogPost:16257172017-04-24T16:46:47.000ZAndrew Brownhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/AndrewBrown
<p>Hi there, everyone.</p>
<p>I need to tell you about the first lie.</p>
<p>You are not God.</p>
<p>Seems obvious. I am a human. I live a human life which is fragile and temporary. I have human powers which make me normal among my other humans. Some humans have more powers than others, some less, but we are all human and all humans are equal.</p>
<p>God is incredible! God is everything? God is love...how does that work? God is the greatest ultimate so therefore, God is. God is apart from us;…</p>
<p>Hi there, everyone.</p>
<p>I need to tell you about the first lie.</p>
<p>You are not God.</p>
<p>Seems obvious. I am a human. I live a human life which is fragile and temporary. I have human powers which make me normal among my other humans. Some humans have more powers than others, some less, but we are all human and all humans are equal.</p>
<p>God is incredible! God is everything? God is love...how does that work? God is the greatest ultimate so therefore, God is. God is apart from us; in another dimension; unreachable without extreme devotion; untouchable; unseeable; unknowable bladity blah.</p>
<p>So clearly, I am not God.</p>
<p>I dare you to pose a question.</p>
<p>What is God?</p>
<p>How could a God exist in the cosmos? How could a God exist and survive on Earth? How could a God function?</p>
<p>God is all powerful within God's own domain.<br/>God is all knowing within God's own domain.<br/>God is fully existent within God's own domain.<br/>God need not deal with the minor events within God's own domain.<br/>God cares about the most important things within God's own domain.<br/><br/>Now, transpose "God is" with "I am" and "God's" with "my."</p>
<p>I am all powerful within my own domain.<br/>I am all knowing within my own domain.<br/>I am fully existent within my own domain.<br/>I need not deal with the minor events within my own domain.<br/>I care about the most important things within my own domain.</p>
<p>What is God's own domain? What is my own domain?</p>
<p>Supposedly, God's own domain is the entire cosmos.<br/>My own domain is my own body.</p>
<p>What happens when God's own domain is threatened? God defends it! The ultimate God will destroy all pretenders to the throne.</p>
<p>What happens when my own domain is threatened? I defend it! I will never willingly allow another to affect my domain without my consent.</p>
<p>I could go on, but I have faith :) this is enough to realize, Thou art God.</p>
<p>In other words; I am God, you are God, everything which controls its own domain is God.</p>
<p>Become the God you would willfully worship.</p>13 Apriltag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-24:1982180:BlogPost:16254442017-04-24T11:08:19.000ZNoon Alifhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/navid
<p><span class="font-size-5" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;">On 13 April 1919 dirty tactics were used by <em><b>British Raj in Subcontinent</b></em>. On 13 April General Harry Dyer ordered to shoot the unarmed people in Jallianwala Bagh<u>. On</u> 13 April General Harry Dyer proved his <b>lewdness</b> &amp; again the same day this lewdness was repeated by Muslims in Pakistan. …</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;">On 13 April 1919 dirty tactics were used by <em><b>British Raj in Subcontinent</b></em>. On 13 April General Harry Dyer ordered to shoot the unarmed people in Jallianwala Bagh<u>. On</u> 13 April General Harry Dyer proved his <b>lewdness</b> &amp; again the same day this lewdness was repeated by Muslims in Pakistan. </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;"><a href="http://api.ning.com:80/files/KABHGMdqTOPPjYs5-1POwFx6bd9oiL2A8Tl9crX65t0p4cusApd4PbQwcSsZzCLIPurhZZQhHWNoVYLEogRpclrlUKu1GHMp/img_7228.jpg" target="_self"><span style="color: #000000;"><img src="http://api.ning.com:80/files/KABHGMdqTOPPjYs5-1POwFx6bd9oiL2A8Tl9crX65t0p4cusApd4PbQwcSsZzCLIPurhZZQhHWNoVYLEogRpclrlUKu1GHMp/img_7228.jpg" width="539" class="align-full" height="403"/></span></a></span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;"> On 13 April 2017 a Muslim mob attacked our humanist friend Mashal Khan in Mardan &amp; brutally killed him. Even police was there &amp; many people were making video of his brutal killing but nobody tried to save his life. His killing was not condemned by any politician or state authorities unless his innocence was not proved by cyber crime authorities they all waited for the facts whether he committed blasphemy or not. </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;"><a href="http://api.ning.com:80/files/KABHGMdqTOPf5daUYNjSDhUQgJnqgSpzxAEVfF0sw02D0YfTHagQL8sc0*WCqMAO6kNkYskFtRERPXmN5*wdgUeLWDqK3vOU/img_7229.jpg" target="_self"><span style="color: #000000;"><img src="http://api.ning.com:80/files/KABHGMdqTOPf5daUYNjSDhUQgJnqgSpzxAEVfF0sw02D0YfTHagQL8sc0*WCqMAO6kNkYskFtRERPXmN5*wdgUeLWDqK3vOU/img_7229.jpg" width="492" class="align-full" height="256"/></span></a></span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;">We should teach our kids about morality from childhood but in Pakistan kids are taught the barbaric Arab ideology as a blessing</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;">After reading Islam for ten years in school two years in college if the ability of questioning doesn’t emerge then the a kid becomes an animal which is called a Muslim everybody can observe such animals from this incident &amp; videos can easily be found on google. </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;"><a href="http://api.ning.com:80/files/KABHGMdqTOMlFDo1swfoO8rc1w7gbkCzhhTq4QfyH6CQ1bPi9BAcqtlW32mfZ3O5f6NgPB-5U29ssfacMpryiqVb3ALMxXkX/img_7230.jpg" target="_self"><span style="color: #000000;"><img src="http://api.ning.com:80/files/KABHGMdqTOMlFDo1swfoO8rc1w7gbkCzhhTq4QfyH6CQ1bPi9BAcqtlW32mfZ3O5f6NgPB-5U29ssfacMpryiqVb3ALMxXkX/img_7230.jpg" width="547" class="align-full" height="260"/></span></a></span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;">On the killing of our humanist friend the people who call Islam a religion of peace instead feeling any shame they told us the stories of crusades &amp; the barbaric stories of Chairman Mao. </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;">Mashal was Marxist. At his brutal act many Muslims on social media asked me to condemn &amp; write some words about Syria. A brain patient of a political party said that ANP (Socialist Party) is a Atheist party because their roots belong to socialism they are following the footsteps of communists &amp; socialists he danced all night on this lie. </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;"><a href="http://api.ning.com:80/files/KABHGMdqTOOxdatJE4ixH*KO1-71U1uZay0mz0U4TyoG-3734-PWDzottOxHY3xf9yL1TOX2d5772NYCBfb-CF6tE7Coz7vv/img_7231.jpg" target="_self"><span style="color: #000000;"><img src="http://api.ning.com:80/files/KABHGMdqTOOxdatJE4ixH*KO1-71U1uZay0mz0U4TyoG-3734-PWDzottOxHY3xf9yL1TOX2d5772NYCBfb-CF6tE7Coz7vv/img_7231.jpg" width="578" class="align-full" height="256"/></span></a></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;">Muslim mob kept hitting his dead body with sticks &amp; stones. A Muslim from his province commented on my post &amp; said that Koran orders to kill all the infidels but our government doesn’t punish such people according to the blasphemy law that’s why people take law &amp; order in their own hand. </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;">It’s a thing to think that does the Arabic Allah have the ability to order Pakistani people to take law &amp; order in their own hand ?? It is claimed that he talks in caves with the help of angels’ religious liars attach beautiful adjectives with his name but he can’t say a word against any brutality which is generated by his holy shit.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;">A wolf named Islam has destroyed our peace in Pakistan. It’s said that a bird can’t fly without Allah’s permission but he didn't take any action to bring peace in our country such god must be buried with his ignorant followers. </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;">When dirty secret agencies abducted the bloggers in January they asked them to say shahada &amp; checked their circumcise. On 13 April same thing was repeated by Muslim animals.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;"><a href="http://api.ning.com:80/files/KABHGMdqTOPQ8jjHpiKBmDFPsGjli6VRN2BzoMsXn-5s49ZMVnjw5cOtp5hYiM5VbKR8hTBbK5dAqvgXlWBDlAdKtE8TbzdR/img_72271.jpg" target="_self"><span style="color: #000000;"><img src="http://api.ning.com:80/files/KABHGMdqTOPQ8jjHpiKBmDFPsGjli6VRN2BzoMsXn-5s49ZMVnjw5cOtp5hYiM5VbKR8hTBbK5dAqvgXlWBDlAdKtE8TbzdR/img_72271.jpg" width="540" class="align-full" height="157"/></span></a></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;">The video which was recorded inside Mashal's room Muslim animals were throwing stones on him &amp; chanting Allah Hu Akbar (Allah is great) Laabaik ya Rasool Allah (O my Prophet here I am at your service (</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;">O Muhammad of Arabia you are our General Dyer</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;"> </span></p>Leo - the liontag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-23:1982180:BlogPost:16254062017-04-23T05:25:55.000ZBrad Snowderhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder
<table bgcolor="#FFFFFF" border="0">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/lioncut.jpg"><img align="right" alt="lioncut" class="alignright wp-image-11504" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/lioncut.jpg?w=250" width="250"></img></a> The constellation Leo shows up in the early spring, when frogs wake up, the crocuses start blooming, and pudgy old guys begin meandering around Lowes in cargo shorts and birkenstocks. These stars dominate the spring sky the way Orion dominates the winter. In the weeks before the…</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/lioncut.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/lioncut.jpg?w=250" alt="lioncut" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11504"/></a>The constellation Leo shows up in the early spring, when frogs wake up, the crocuses start blooming, and pudgy old guys begin meandering around Lowes in cargo shorts and birkenstocks. These stars dominate the spring sky the way Orion dominates the winter. In the weeks before the equinox Leo begins leaping up from the eastern horizon, stretching up and sniffing the zenith. <br/>
<br/>
</span><span style="color:#000000;">The lion allegory goes back at least 6000 years, maybe longer. The ancient greeks associated it with the lion that Hercules killed with a mighty bear hug. That particular lion had thick skin that couldn't be pierced with swords or arrows, hence the hugging tactic. But the name pre-dates Hercules, going back to those industrious and imaginative Babylonians, and the Persians, and many others.<br />
</span><center><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/spring_05.jpg"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/spring_05.jpg" alt="spring_05" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11507"/></a></span></center>
<span style="color:#000000;">The stars of the head and a front leg of the beast form a backwards question mark, a group known as The Sickle, which is basically a primitive wheat whacker. With the rest of the stars of the constellation it forms a pretty decent stick-figure of an animal. To the Chinese it was a horse.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">The bright star Regulus is the star of kings, and the lion's front paw. It's important to celestial navigation because of its brightness, and because it is visible much of the year, and it is conveniently right on the ecliptic. Basically that means it is handy for calculating how badly off course you've drifted.<br />
</span><center><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/leo2.jpg"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/leo2.jpg" alt="leo2" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11510"/></a></span></center>
<span style="color:#000000;">The star Denebola is the tail of the lion. The name means "tail of the lion."<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">Wolf 359 is a itty bitty red dwarf star only 7.78 light years from Earth. It is about 8% of the mass of our Sun, which is as wimpy as you can be and still be a star. Any less mass and there wouldn't be enough pressure in the core to create all the light and heat that a star needs to shine and let's face it, shining is a star's job. No nucleosynthesis, no stardom. There are plenty of star wannabees out there who never got that big break, sort of like all of those waiters and waitresses in Anaheim.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/spring_02lg.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/spring_02lg.jpg?w=250" alt="spring_02lg" width="250" class="wp-image-11519"/></a>Right in the middle of the lion's thighs you'll find a two-fer, M65 and M66. These two galaxies can be had in one shot through your telescope, and they look just fine in amateur scopes. Just aim at his tail and swipe right.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">After grabbing the 65-66 two-fer, go for a three-way. The galaxies M95, M96, and M105 can be had in a shot. Put in your lowest power eyepiece and scan the belly of the beast. The light from several trillion stars will be gathered and focused onto your retina. Perhaps some humble creature out there is looking back at us and thinking the same.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/meteorstorm.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/meteorstorm.jpg" alt="meteorstorm" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11512"/></a>The Leonids meteor shower is famous. It's one of the very best. It is caused by a bunch of gravel left behind by a messy comet named Tempel-Tuttle. The earth starts smacking into the little buggers around November 13 and it lasts a week.<br />
<br/>
<br/>
Most years you will see 20 or so good ones per hour, which is cool. But once every 33 years the earth swims right through that dirty river of space-debris, and instead of a shower it can become a meteor storm. Sometimes there are thousands per hour and it rains meteors. In 1833 there was a Leonid storm which probably produced between 100,000 and 240,000 per hour. That's up to 67 freaking shooting stars per second, and it lasted for 9 hours.<br />
<br/>
<br/>
The next likely storm will be in 2032. Take a lawn chair, a blanket, a lovely beverage, and a warm friend.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/spring_01.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/spring_01.jpg" alt="spring_01" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11516"/></a>The second most massive known structure in the whole universe is in Leo. It's called the Huge Large Quasar Group. It's not just large, it's huge large. It's 73 quasars spread across 4 billion light-years. The only thing we see bigger is the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall, which is 10 billion light-years wide. Now that's a big wall. It's not known who paid for it.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">One twelfth of the people responsible for all the atrocities in history were born under the sign of Leo.<br />
<br />
</span> <span style="color:#000000;">Carpe Noctem.</span><br />
<a href="http://skywiseunlimited.com">Skywise Unlimited</a><br />
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>When did this happen?tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-17:1982180:BlogPost:16246232017-04-17T08:24:39.000ZRon Humphreyhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/RonHumphrey
<p>It has been so long since I went to the think atheist group that I did not know it it was back. The new one was never very satisfactory, so I stopped visiting the site. Glad to see the old format back.</p>
<p>Ron H. </p>
<p>It has been so long since I went to the think atheist group that I did not know it it was back. The new one was never very satisfactory, so I stopped visiting the site. Glad to see the old format back.</p>
<p>Ron H. </p>Leo Minor - the smaller liontag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-16:1982180:BlogPost:16244652017-04-16T04:33:47.000ZBrad Snowderhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder
<table bgcolor="#FFFFFF" border="0">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/leominor_01.jpg"><img align="right" alt="leominor_01" class="alignright wp-image-11463" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/leominor_01.jpg?w=250" width="250"></img></a> There is a constellation called Leo Minor that represents a lesser lion, just north of regular Leo. Johannes Hevelius added it in 1687. He sort of squeezed it in between Leo and the Big Dipper where there was a bit of unoccupied interstitial space. It's like how Idaho was…</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/leominor_01.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/leominor_01.jpg?w=250" alt="leominor_01" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11463"/></a>There is a constellation called Leo Minor that represents a lesser lion, just north of regular Leo. Johannes Hevelius added it in 1687. He sort of squeezed it in between Leo and the Big Dipper where there was a bit of unoccupied interstitial space. It's like how Idaho was formed from the leftover region created by forming the surrounding states. And like Idaho, the tourist attractions are cheaper and less crowded. <br/>
<br/>
</span><span style="color:#000000;">Arabs called the region The Gazelle because in nearby Ursa Major you'll find three pairs of stars which are the tracks left by that critter as it went leaping by, and they are still appropriately called First Leap, Second Leap, and Third Leap.<br />
<br />
</span> <span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/gazelle_01.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/gazelle_01.jpg?w=250" alt="gazelle_01" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11465"/></a>By the way, the word "gazelle" comes from an Arabic word that means "to flirt." Not slutty flirting, and not sexual harassment stuff, just the right sort of flirting. What does this have to do with Leo Minor you might ask? Nothing. But some older maps call this constellation Tabitha which is Aramaic for Gazelle. In the Bible a woman named Tabitha is a dressmaker that died but Peter raised her from the dead. Was she flirty? Did she leap about and have long legs? I'll leave such ecclesiastical questions for another time.<br />
<br />
</span> <span style="color:#000000;">In 2007 a Dutch school teacher named Hanny van Arkel discovered a strange object in Leo Minor. The object’s name, Hanny's Voorwerp, means Hanny's Thingamajig in Dutch. It's a quasar ionization echo, which is a title you may find just as illuminating as thingamajig. Basically a giant intergalactic conglomerate of atoms were ionized by the energy of a quasar in a nearby galaxy. And it contains more than just hydrogen, there is stuff like carbon and oxygen there.<br />
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</span><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/hannysvoorwerp.jpg"><img align="right" title="Hanny's Voorwerp and IC-2497" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/hannysvoorwerp.jpg?w=250" alt="hannysvoorwerp" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11469"/></a>On its own Hanny's Voorwerp shouldn't be glowing the way it is so the hypothesis is that a powerful light from the core of the galaxy is shining on it like a flashlight. The flashlight has since switched off so we don't see that, but the light itself hasn't finished bouncing off the voorwerp, hence the word "echo" in the title. We're seeing the light that bounced like an echo and is just now reaching us after the actual source is gone.<br />
<br />
</span> <span style="color:#000000;">How many more blobs of unseen junk wander between the galaxies? Who knows? But this object shows that the quasars of the early universe were up to shenanigans during their day, ionizing stuff, sanitizing things, and even contributing to the nuclear synthesis of elements like oxygen, way before stars made such things main stream. They're the cosmic hipsters of a by-gone age.<br />
<br />
</span> <span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/arp_107.jpg"><img align="right" title="ARP 107" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/arp_107.jpg?w=250" alt="arp_107" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11474"/></a>Arp 107 is one of the 338 objects in Halton Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies. During the 1950's astronomers finally got a peek at the far-away which is the long-ago. They were trying to sort out what led to all the weird creepy crawlers in the early jungle, the galactic dinosaurs as it were. Some of those astronomers came up with some confusing ideas about it, as did Halton Arp. That's okay, that's actually a good thing. That's how science is supposed to work. Now days we think we have a better grip on it, but it's thanks in part to creative springboards like Arp challenging our more conventional theories.<br />
<br/>
<br/>
Future generations will no-doubt improve even further on our current models, assuming we win the war of the robot uprising.<br />
</span><div align="center"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/lmi_031.jpg"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/lmi_031.jpg" alt="lmi_03" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11486"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;">Carpe Noctem<br/>
<a href="http://skywiseunlimited.com">Skywise Unlimited</a></span><br />
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Freedomtag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-13:1982180:BlogPost:16240122017-04-13T19:07:25.000ZAndrew Brownhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/AndrewBrown
<p dir="ltr"><span>Understanding freedom has only come through the sum total of my entire life of learning crossed by meditation in which I can focus on a single idea and explore it from all sides.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>I first learned of freedom through patriotic songs, but I didn’t understand it; I had only taken the first step.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>I first declared atheism during my twelfth year of life which freed me from the god concept, but I still didn’t know freedom; I…</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Understanding freedom has only come through the sum total of my entire life of learning crossed by meditation in which I can focus on a single idea and explore it from all sides.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>I first learned of freedom through patriotic songs, but I didn’t understand it; I had only taken the first step.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>I first declared atheism during my twelfth year of life which freed me from the god concept, but I still didn’t know freedom; I had only taken one more step.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>I first declared safety during my 22nd year of life which freed me from fear, but I still didn’t know freedom; I had only taken one more step.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>I first declared knowledge during my 25th year of life which freed me from my parents’ support, but I still didn’t know freedom; I had only taken one more step.</span></p>
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-53321f0c-68b3-8df8-9df5-060089a114d0"><span>I first declared the secret of existence during my 32nd year of life which freed me from the bonds of limitation; only after understanding limitations can one understand there are no limitations.</span></span></p>
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-53321f0c-68b3-8df8-9df5-060089a114d0"><span>Now, I can declare, “I am Free.”</span></span></p>God of the Nudgestag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-10:1982180:BlogPost:16234702017-04-10T21:30:00.000ZPope Beaniehttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/PaulRyan
Obviously everyone's just been guessing what God must be like, and the conclusions people come up with depend 90% of the time on what the culture they grew up in tell them is true. Fortunately, enough people have enough smarts to realize how well science explains a growing number of past mysteries, which additionally leads us to better predictions of the future. Especially predictions like "if I do X, I've learned that Y happens". You know, a scientific method, or something like that.<br />
<br />
Now, the…
Obviously everyone's just been guessing what God must be like, and the conclusions people come up with depend 90% of the time on what the culture they grew up in tell them is true. Fortunately, enough people have enough smarts to realize how well science explains a growing number of past mysteries, which additionally leads us to better predictions of the future. Especially predictions like "if I do X, I've learned that Y happens". You know, a scientific method, or something like that.<br />
<br />
Now, the stuff I don't understand yet, well, that's easy: Godditit!<br />
<br />
OK, but look, theists, we all know that the easy, Godditit answer eventually gives way to "Aha, Y happens because of what we now know happens to X... something we just could not actually know for *sure* until someone familiar with science guessed correctly, tested the guess, and finally wrote about the causitive relationships... i.e. if you will, HOW Godditit! Like seriously folks, isn't that a great way to understand God better than ever? I mean, if God set forth Natural Law, gave us brains, language, two super-dexterious hands freed up with bipedal ambulation, and what have you, and not necesssarily in that order, doesn't God want us to discover how he nudges our personal realities along using the science God created JUST FOR US!?<br />
<br />
I think so. And that's why I want to start a new holy book, that investigatinng just how God does everything: "God of the Nudges". I'll start (below) with an example of how I think God *might* do it, or did it. Let's bring God and science back together again, in our books and conversations, just like God intended us to! (I mean, *probably*.)gods seem to be jerkstag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-09:1982180:BlogPost:16234522017-04-09T22:39:16.000ZWillow Richardsonhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/WillowRichardson
<p>And, so god came down and committed adultery to rape a virgin, and her name was Mary....</p>
<p>No wonder so many god-fearing men are so nasty to women.</p>
<p>Not the kind I want to hang with, thank you.</p>
<p>And, so god came down and committed adultery to rape a virgin, and her name was Mary....</p>
<p>No wonder so many god-fearing men are so nasty to women.</p>
<p>Not the kind I want to hang with, thank you.</p>Lepus - the haretag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-08:1982180:BlogPost:16233622017-04-08T17:09:34.000ZBrad Snowderhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder
<table bgcolor="#FFFFFF" border="0">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/hare_01.jpg"><img align="right" alt="hare_01" class="alignright wp-image-11444" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/hare_01.jpg?w=250" width="250"></img></a> Lepus is a constellation that represents a hare, which is basically a rabbit with longer legs and ears. It's located right beneath Orion, dangerously close to being stepped on, and dangerously close to his two dogs.</span> <span style="color:#000000;">The brightest star in Lepus…</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/hare_01.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/hare_01.jpg?w=250" alt="hare_01" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11444"/></a>Lepus is a constellation that represents a hare, which is basically a rabbit with longer legs and ears. It's located right beneath Orion, dangerously close to being stepped on, and dangerously close to his two dogs.
</span> <span style="color:#000000;">The brightest star in Lepus is named Arneb, which means "hare" (no surprise there). It's expected to explode at any moment, so let's keep an eye out for more on that.<br />
<br />
</span> <span style="color:#000000;">The second brightest star in Lepus is named Nihal, which means either "annoyingly happy camels" or "satisfying beverage" or possibly some combination of the two. I'm guessing the origin has something to do with unguarded beer.<br />
</span><div align="center"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/lep.gif"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/lep.gif?w=640" alt="lep" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11443"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/m079.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/m079.jpg" alt="m079" width="200" class="alignright wp-image-11449"/></a>M79 is a globular cluster which is one we think the Milky Way probably stole from the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy along with a few other valuables. The jury is still deliberating the evidence for that crime so no clear verdict yet. Most of its stars are red giants and they are somewhat concentrated towards the center, but not overly so, not ridiculously so, just about right I'd say. On the other hand, in an amateur scope it appears shaped overall like a starfish, which is rather ridiculous.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">Another interesting attraction in Lepus is Hind’s Crimson Star (R Leporis), which is ridiculously red. It's all the carbon boiling up from the core into the upper layers that makes it look like a "drop of blood" as Hind actually described it in 1845. It's also a variable star because the carbon crowds the surface and makes it hard for light to get out. That trapped energy builds up like a pressure cooker and eventually blasts through the shell sending clouds of carbon and other junk into space as part of the galactic recycling program, thus allowing the star to brighten again. The whole dim-bright-dim cycle lasts a bit more than a year. Find Hind's Crimson Star at its dimmest for the most bloodiest effect.<br />
</span><div align="center"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/hare_03.jpg"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/hare_03.jpg" alt="hare_03" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11453"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;">Carpe Noctem<br/>
<a href="http://skywiseunlimited.com">Skywise Unlimited</a></span><br />
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Getting Peace Instead Of Drugstag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-02:1982180:BlogPost:16225352017-04-02T14:02:46.000ZDan Abshearhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/DanAbshear
Today I'm homeless again by choice this time.<br />
<br />
For the past several months I've been working in this recycling factory West of St. Louis, MO. During that time I lived with two guys I worked with at this factory in an extended stay hotel near where we work. We all paid rent to stay in this hotel.<br />
<br />
The two men I lived with are very clearly drug addicts. So I ended up smoking meth with them during the day and drinking vodka with them at night. We would get up early for work. So at 5 a.m. I'd be…
Today I'm homeless again by choice this time.<br />
<br />
For the past several months I've been working in this recycling factory West of St. Louis, MO. During that time I lived with two guys I worked with at this factory in an extended stay hotel near where we work. We all paid rent to stay in this hotel.<br />
<br />
The two men I lived with are very clearly drug addicts. So I ended up smoking meth with them during the day and drinking vodka with them at night. We would get up early for work. So at 5 a.m. I'd be smoking meth with them before going to work.<br />
<br />
And I did very well working in this recycling factory. The managers there liked all of the strength and energy I gave them, regardless if I had drugs in me or not.<br />
<br />
Meth by the way is an interesting drug. I never really felt high while on meth, but the drug did in fact make me feel good. The vodka I drank at night helped me sleep.<br />
<br />
There is only one thing I had in common with the two guys I lived with in this hotel. And that is we are all very self destructive. Illustrated by our at times massive drug intake. WE expressed our self destructive patterns differently though in regards to our dispositions.<br />
<br />
Last week one guy I lived with decided not to work and just smoke meth all day. So it was then I decided I had enough.<br />
<br />
The two men I lived with have overt anger issues- they were angry often. This is probably related to their self destructive patterns. They also both often used very bad language associated with their anger. Myself I have no anger issues and I never use bad language. So I decided to leave last week.<br />
<br />
I chose to move to Iowa because I always wanted to live in that state. So a few days ago I took a bus to Des Moines, IA. Once there I checked into a fairly nice shelter for a place to stay. This is the first shelter I've ever stayed in that is not run by the veterans administration.<br />
<br />
Many people are here with me now, including many women. Some of these women would be much more attractive if they did not use such bad language. I'll do what I can for these people while I'm here with them.<br />
<br />
It is my hope to get a job very soon so I can somehow get on with my life. Now I continue to speak with my mother and brother daily on email and facebook. Most importantly though is I'm very glad I no longer take drugs or drink. For the first time in a very long time I'm actually experiencing peace. True peace being with those very similiar to myself.<br />
<br />
I just spent several months smoking meth and drinking vodka with 2 angry drug addicts in St. Louis, MO. I had enough so I moved to Iowa to start over once again.<br />
<br />
To get peace. And I got peace. I love watching a long train move by slowly as I watch snow fall quietly where I live. I love going to the library near where I live to experience knowledge and kindness. I love watching rabbits play where I live.<br />
<br />
I now have peace. Which opens my mind, so I love this shit.My Experience With Parental Alienationtag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-02:1982180:BlogPost:16223812017-04-02T14:01:02.000ZDan Abshearhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/DanAbshear
Never would I ever thought I would experience the severe trauma of parental alienation.<br />
<br />
According to Wikipedia, Parental alienation is the process, and the result, of the psychological manipulation of a child into showing unwarranted fear, disrespect or hostility towards a parent or other family members.<br />
<br />
First of all, I raised my daughter Hayley alone the first 10 years of her life in a town west of St. Louis, Missouri where we lived. During that time her mother wanted nothing to do with her,…
Never would I ever thought I would experience the severe trauma of parental alienation.<br />
<br />
According to Wikipedia, Parental alienation is the process, and the result, of the psychological manipulation of a child into showing unwarranted fear, disrespect or hostility towards a parent or other family members.<br />
<br />
First of all, I raised my daughter Hayley alone the first 10 years of her life in a town west of St. Louis, Missouri where we lived. During that time her mother wanted nothing to do with her, and that was obvious not only to myself but others as well.<br />
<br />
So I was the primary caregiver for Hayley the first 10 years of her life. During that time, I spent a lot of time with Hayley trying to be the best father I could be with her.<br />
<br />
Around the age of 10, Hayley's mother started spending time with her. Apparently Hayley's mother felt she could manipulate Hayley at that age.<br />
<br />
In 2009 when Hayley was 11 her mother falsely accused me of physically abusing her and as a result I lost everything and everyone really. So I left the state and moved to Georgia. After the false allegations and losing everything I began writing Hayley letters.<br />
<br />
At first Hayley responded to my letters and the letters I sent Hayley seemed to give her needed peace and happiness. And that was my intention when I would write Hayley these beautiful letters.<br />
<br />
In 2011 I got a bunch of money and mailed a thousand dollars to Hayley in these cards and letters I would mail to Hayley. Hayley later told me she shared that money with her mother.<br />
<br />
Then something happened and Hayley stopped responding to me, although I continued to hand write Hayley beautiful letters at least once a week until the year 2016, and I always mailed those to Hayley with a nice card to my ex in law's house because I never knew where Hayley lived. Hayley eventually told me she did read and receive all the letters I did mail to her.<br />
<br />
In 2015 I was living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and decided to move back to Missouri to attempt to see Hayley. There was a warrant for my arrest in Missouri for probation violation so I turned myself in once I arrived in St. Louis. Then I did 3 months in jail for that offense.<br />
<br />
I wrote Hayley often in jail and asked that she see me in jail. So one time Hayley did see me in jail. And I did not recognize her when she approached me in jail, as I had not seen Hayley in 4 years at that time. The visit on the phone with Hayley in jail went rather well I feel.<br />
<br />
Once released from jail I asked Hayley to see me at my parents house. So one evening she came to my parents house and I spent a few hours with Hayley.<br />
<br />
All things considered that evening went very well with Hayley. During that visit with her I learned that Hayley viewed me as violent, unstable and aggressive. None of which is true. This visit with Hayley was good I feel, but Hayley was distant with me this evening at my parent's house. At the end of that visit Hayley told me she wanted to see me on fathers day.<br />
<br />
So I arranged to meet Hayley at a restaurant the evening of fathers day. Once there we sat down and I got the impression that Hayley did not want to be there with me. So at the restaurant I told Hayley to leave if she wanted to and she did in fact leave me alone in that restaurant. That was the last time I saw Hayley, which was the summer of 2015.<br />
<br />
Since then Hayley has not responded to my attempts to contact her through handwritten letters and email. She has me blocked on facebook. Keep in mind I did absolutely nothing to cause this behavior Hayley is now demonstrating.<br />
<br />
Her mother falsely accused me of abusing her I believe because her mother did not like what I discovered about her. The fact that she is a lesbian in particular. This parental alienation I'm experiencing is a continuation of Hayley's mother wishing to destroy me completely. Her mother has been partially effective I'm sad to say.<br />
<br />
This life I created is now gone from my life due to parental alienation, which has been progressive and severe the past 6 years in particular. Hayley, my daughter, has been saturated with anger and hate so much that she will now not speak with me or contact me in any way.<br />
<br />
To combat this anger and hate possibly forced upon her by her mother especially I have in fact wrote Hayley beautiful letters at least once a week. And again Hayley did receive my letters but Hayley never wrote me back. This beauty I gave Hayley apparently has been ineffective, which deeply saddens me.<br />
<br />
I gave Hayley over 10 years of my life. At times women would cry seeing Hayley and I together wishing their own dads would of been like me.<br />
<br />
As a result of the separation and distance from Hayley, I have at times been suicidal and noticeably self destructive. Ironically this life I created is essentially destroying me slowly and painfully.<br />
<br />
Parental alienaton I believe cannot be prevented or treated effectively now. Because the etiology of parental alienation is true evil.Letters With My Aunt Evelyntag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-02:1982180:BlogPost:16223802017-04-02T13:58:43.000ZDan Abshearhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/DanAbshear
I have an aunt in her 80s who I saw at a hospital in a small town in Missouri where she worked when I did pharma sales some time ago.<br />
<br />
Now she emails me, and she sends me the most beautiful letters, full of clarity and peace considering her age.<br />
<br />
And thankfully, aunt Evelyn also gives me advice.<br />
<br />
My most recent letter from aunt Evelyn after I told her about my recent use and abuse of alcohol and meth:<br />
<br />
I know you like helping people who are facing difficult times. That is a wonderful feeling to…
I have an aunt in her 80s who I saw at a hospital in a small town in Missouri where she worked when I did pharma sales some time ago.<br />
<br />
Now she emails me, and she sends me the most beautiful letters, full of clarity and peace considering her age.<br />
<br />
And thankfully, aunt Evelyn also gives me advice.<br />
<br />
My most recent letter from aunt Evelyn after I told her about my recent use and abuse of alcohol and meth:<br />
<br />
I know you like helping people who are facing difficult times. That is a wonderful feeling to know that you can be a positive influence on someone who is very much in need of help. I'm sure it makes you feel good to be able to accomplish this with some of your friends.<br />
<br />
I think the downside is to be living with people who need this help when you are trying to find a life of peace for yourself. By living with these people you never get away from it yourself, and it is a bad influence on you as well.<br />
<br />
Hopefully you can find some way to live outside the situation you had in St. Louis and find that peaceful time that is so important to all of us. You can still continue to offer help to those in need, just try to find a way to have some sense of peace and quiet in your own personal life.<br />
<br />
We all are influenced to some degree by the behavior around us. We pick up the bad habits as well as the good ones. We have to remove ourselves from that kind of situation so we are not becoming what we find to be a disruption in our struggle for peace.<br />
<br />
It will also help us have a healthier body as well as our soul which is the goal I believe we are trying to achieve.<br />
<br />
I wish you good luck in your quest for Peace instead of Drugs. And remember I'll continue to pray for you.<br />
<br />
This is my response to aunt Evelyn’s letter to me:<br />
<br />
Thanks for your letter and advice to me aunt Evelyn.<br />
<br />
I tried to help the angry drug addicts I lived with in St. Louis, but it was difficult. Trying to help those drug addicts left me without any peace in my life, combined with my own self destructive pattern at the time.<br />
<br />
Here in Iowa I speak with those at the shelter with me now, and I am thankful for their companionship. The VA is getting me housing very soon.<br />
<br />
And I finally am getting peace from watching a long train move by slowly as I watch snow fall quietly. That and trips to the library here where I get to absorb knowledge and kindness.<br />
<br />
There is a girl with me now and her face is black and blue because her ex boyfriend beat her up. I treat her with extra kindness as a result.<br />
<br />
Most of the girls with me at this shelter are not attractive. Their use of bad language makes them even less attractive. A bunch of beautiful girls came here last Sunday and cut our hair. That I enjoyed.<br />
<br />
Like you, I've always been a caregiver aunt Evelyn. And I'll continue to help others when I can and avoid entering a self destructive pattern again, which makes me less of a caregiver overall.<br />
<br />
Today I started a new job at a tire factory, so I'll be doing heavy lifting every day at work. Thankfully I can do that kind of work at the age of 50.<br />
<br />
Please do write me again when you can and I continue to wish you continued peace and happiness. I also hope your children and their families are doing well. Take care,<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
DanLibra – the scalestag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-01:1982180:BlogPost:16225172017-04-01T17:08:13.000ZBrad Snowderhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder
<table bgcolor="#FFFFFF" border="0">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/lib.gif"><img align="right" alt="lib" class="alignright wp-image-11417" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/lib.gif?w=250" width="250"></img></a> The constellation of Libra represents a set of scales and it is by far the newest of the zodiacal membership. It may seem odd that there is a machine for weighing stuff in the weird line-up of monsters and zoo critters. On the other hand its two brightest stars have my most favorite…</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<tbody><tr><td style="background-color: #ffffff; padding: 5px;"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/lib.gif"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/lib.gif?w=250" alt="lib" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11417"/></a>The constellation of Libra represents a set of scales and it is by far the newest of the zodiacal membership. It may seem odd that there is a machine for weighing stuff in the weird line-up of monsters and zoo critters. On the other hand its two brightest stars have my most favorite star names; Zubenelgenubi, and Zubeneschamali, aka alpha and beta Librae. <br/>
<br/>
</span><span style="color:#000000;">You should definitely learn these two star names because you can impress your friends and your family. Take them outside at night, and look up, and just point to any two stars, they won’t know the difference, and say “Look, there’s Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali.” From then on they’ll assume you know everything about the stars.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/scale_03.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/scale_03.jpg?w=250" alt="scale_03" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11427"/></a>The backstory on Libra starts at a time when the Romans were mucking about with the calendar. Those guys were always stealing days from February and other shenanigans. Then they started trying to divide the sky up into perfect 30 degree sections. Well that didn’t work. The star groups are all different sizes and shapes. The Sun is in Virgo for 45 days. It was in the scorpion for a neat and tidy 30 days. But the Romans didn’t like how Scorpius had such huge gangly claws because you see at that time, there was no Libra. The stars of Libra were the scorpion’s original claws. So the Romans cut off his claws. Then they gave him some little tiny claws, and used the left over space to add the scales. The Romans actually stole the idea of the scales from some old Babylonian drawings.<br />
<br />
</span> <span style="color:#000000;">Chopping off the claws is why the Sun is now in Scorpius for only 7 days and why we have 12 birthday signs instead of 11, which is way more cool anyway because 12 can be divided easily. If you think long division sucks, just try doing it with Roman numerals. But here’s the thing, Zubenelgenubi is an ancient Arabic phrase that means “the southern claw,” and Zubeneschamali means “the northern claw.” And now you know the rest of the story.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">Zubenelgenubi (south claw) is a member of the Castor Moving Group (Castor, Fomalhaut, Vega, α Cephei, and α Librae). These are similar stars that are all headed in a similar direction at a similar speed so for a while astronomers figured they were born together, that they are all sisters. Finer evaluation has revealed the group's association is recent and temporary so they are probably not sisters. Plus they are all getting along and never argue or steal each other's sweaters.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/scale_01.jpg"><img align="right" src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/scale_01.jpg?w=250" alt="scale_01" width="250" class="alignright wp-image-11424"/></a>Zubeneschamali (north claw) is sometimes known as the only green star. Occasionally, throughout the ages, people have reported a bit of a greenish tinge. A star's peak output of color can be pretty much anything in the rainbow but there is a good reason they never look green. The peak output of a star is rather "flat" which is geekspeak obviously and what it means is that if a star peaks in the green, it also puts out almost as much blue and red. If it peaks in the blue, it looks blue. If it peaks in the red, it looks red. But if it peaks in the green, it looks RGB, which is white. So it takes several measurements through special filters to sort it all out. Anyway, Zubenschamali doesn't look the least bit green at all to me. I don't know what all those crazy star hoppers back then were smoking, something green probably.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">For all you historians concerned with such things as what the sun was up to prior to 730 AD, it could be found in Libra on the autumnal equinox back then. Scales... Equinox. It sort of makes sense. But by 730 the earth had wobbled Virgo over to that position. Young Maiden... Equinox...? You're going to have to figure out how that one balances on your own.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">Another interesting star in Libra is HD 140283, also known as Methuselah. It's the oldest known star in the whole damn universe, 14.46 billion years old. That's weird because the Universe is only 13.77 billion years old. So the star is .69 billion years older than the universe. What this discrepancy is actually revealing is that we astrophysicists are not as good at math as we pretend to be.<br />
</span><div align="center"><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/scale_02.jpg"><img src="https://skywiseunlimited.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/scale_02.jpg" alt="scale_02" width="640" class="aligncenter wp-image-11421"/></a></span></div>
<span style="color:#000000;">People born under the sign of Libra are descended from primitive hominids that reportedly co-mingled with Neanderthals.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color:#000000;">Carpe Noctem<br/>
<a href="http://skywiseunlimited.com">Skywise Unlimited</a></span><br />
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>World War 2tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-03-30:1982180:BlogPost:16222252017-03-30T19:30:00.000ZAndrew Brownhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/AndrewBrown
<p dir="ltr"><span>I visited the New Orleans World War 2 museum.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Tough, emotional time learning about the whole event.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>As a martial artist and Tai Chi player, I have learned a great deal about combat and theories which function best in said realm. Hitler and Hirohito had the exact same flaw which allowed the allies to defeat their militaries. Both expanded quickly with their respective forces. Spread thin accross so many captured…</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>I visited the New Orleans World War 2 museum.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Tough, emotional time learning about the whole event.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>As a martial artist and Tai Chi player, I have learned a great deal about combat and theories which function best in said realm. Hitler and Hirohito had the exact same flaw which allowed the allies to defeat their militaries. Both expanded quickly with their respective forces. Spread thin accross so many captured territories, the bubble of influence became thin and with that, easier and easier to poke holes in less than required positions. As the months dragged on, soldiers and equipment became scarce. The aggressor soldiers, armed with ordinance and false philosophies, eventually fell to the welcomed and sympathetic allies.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>A perfect defense is a perfect sphere which absorbs and bends with force.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>A perfect offense is a perfect line or spear which strikes true to the center of mass, piercing through any resistance.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>As the armies assaulted nations, controlling cities with angry natives, the borders grew at the same rate as troop requirements. Stretched thin due to such rapid expansion, the axis spear must transform to a sphere to hold territory. Attacking and defending is one of the most difficult techniques to master. Both Hitler and Hirohito understood attacking, but failed to see their greatest weakness is exposed during expansion and were destroyed by the tight, nimble, encroachingly subtle movements of the allies.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The island chains in the Pacific fell as quickly as the soft Italian targets. Hitler's "perfect" Atlantic defensive line quickly crumbled with the loss of just a few beaches. As the border breaks down, a mad dash to transport heavy equipment from the front lines to fortify the most important rear positions in a desperate attempt to maintain stability against thousands of arrows coming from all directions which only pick up speed as they get closer and closer to the heart...maybe you see the point. A collapsing defense is the scariest feeling during a single fight and also the scariest sight to a military strategist. As Hitler realized the empire was in the process of collapsing faster than he was able to build, his frustration became pronounced as his top generals became fearful of challenging his poorly developed military skill; the critical flaw of any bully.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>As the allied troops marched closer and closer, inched up from the fingers, to the shoulder then the throat, his fearful nature, the fear all fervent racists have deep inside, took him over. Just like every coward too scared to face the consequences of their decisions, Hitler, the asshole, racist, totalitarian, "perfect" human, put a bullet in his lover than himself. The fall of Hitler brought joy to the world for the exact same reason we cheer the 100lb kid when he lands a blow on the 220lb bully. I hope I am not saying anything controversial when I declare my distaste for all oppressors regardless of the reason; Fuck Hitler right in the ass with many pineapples.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Hirohito was just as high and mighty, looking down on the other: Chinese, Phillipinos, Koreans, the list goes on.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Believing himself above all others like Zeus on Olympus, he couldn't see the rage built up inside of every other person in the world declaring, "I exist and I will not allow you to take that from me."</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Hirohito demanded,</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>One plane for One Warship.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Ten enemy death for One Japanese.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>A losing strategy as it becomes a game of attrition played by an island nation fighting against the combined resources of multiple continents. Nothing could have stopped the inevitable and his goal became a favorable surrender over the unconditional surrender which Japan had resisted for 2600 years to date. As the allies constricted the small nation, a last show of force in Kyushu became the "hail Mary" for the Empire of the Rising Sun.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The combined genius of the allies generated the most terrifying weapon man has so far harnessed, the Atom bomb. A weapon so fundamental in nature that it destroys the building blocks of existence.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. -Oppenheimer after realizing the power of his team's creation.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>If killing a single other is considered the most heinous act in society, then killing an entire city with flick of a button is...something unspeakable, unforgivable, unholy, disgusting at every level, the act of the worst possible kind, but I understand a bit of the reason.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The idea of "No Surrender" is something to greatly fear. When surrender is not an option, as the cornered rat lashes out with everything it has, the only option for the attacker is to render the defender defenseless. Cutting off a hand, displaying it for analysis, the defender should realize the peril and bow to the enemy and beg for forgiveness...Hirohito still resisted reality, the greatest mistake. Hiroshima fell to the most beautiful fire humanity has stoked. Stubbornness and pride forced Truman's hand and he had to take the other hand in the form of Nagasaki before Hirohito admitted his mistake and came to the table.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Luckily, thanks to all of the effort, the war ended quickly in relative terms.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>As I know the pain of just reading the account, I am more than certain Truman died with more weight on his heart than Atlas on his back.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr">The great wisdom which destroyed so much also allowed the great fools a chance at redemption in the form of trade and a hand up. America's greatest and closest allies, Germany and Japan, have greatly added to our culture as we theirs.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>We must love each and every other person at least as much as we love ourselves if we are to avoid such tragedy in the future.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>All humans have not taken this lesson, but I can only hope this call for peace will sway one more person to seek peace with the world and do their best to never harm.</span></p>
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-a42c9980-20b1-b637-c206-03c9b7d114e5"><span>I love you.</span></span></p>I am Ayaz Nizamitag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-03-27:1982180:BlogPost:16217282017-03-27T14:30:00.000ZNoon Alifhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/navid
<p class="xp1"><span class="font-size-5">In January 2017 four social media activists went missing. After that Muslim fascists started a huge campaign of blasphemy against them. UN &amp; many other human rights organisations issued statement against their abduction. With international pressure they were released by state intelligence authorities. After that all of them had to leave Pakistan. Nothing was proven but still they are being called traitors &amp; blasphemers.…</span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span class="font-size-5">In January 2017 four social media activists went missing. After that Muslim fascists started a huge campaign of blasphemy against them. UN &amp; many other human rights organisations issued statement against their abduction. With international pressure they were released by state intelligence authorities. After that all of them had to leave Pakistan. Nothing was proven but still they are being called traitors &amp; blasphemers.</span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span class="font-size-5"><a href="http://api.ning.com:80/files/hvlJDVDxYpW7G2DHWpzl5LQZL99XGhFGHnM79gS1CNGzfaezWqIbXZL7ATQjWFp06BkMonNJNItsOSCTNrPSVek76wSl4waB/nnn.jpg" target="_self"><img width="270" class="align-full" src="http://api.ning.com:80/files/hvlJDVDxYpW7G2DHWpzl5LQZL99XGhFGHnM79gS1CNGzfaezWqIbXZL7ATQjWFp06BkMonNJNItsOSCTNrPSVek76wSl4waB/nnn.jpg"/></a></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span class="font-size-5">Famous media persons made a huge campaign against them but they safely left Pakistan. They were not allowed to talk on media one of them personally told me that their families are still being threatened. Pakistani channels are not allowed to talk with them about their abduction.</span></p>
<p class="xp2"><span class="font-size-5"> <a href="http://api.ning.com:80/files/hvlJDVDxYpUjWgxbINElR0y0PVHNtnwYsjPFt7n-FCK5AFZys8GgQxVUA0i8d-vkgryPiXgcl1GkV1S-OeIuqAJE4qDMspVn/nnnnnnnnnnnnn.jpg" target="_self"><img width="557" height="381" class="align-full" src="http://api.ning.com:80/files/hvlJDVDxYpUjWgxbINElR0y0PVHNtnwYsjPFt7n-FCK5AFZys8GgQxVUA0i8d-vkgryPiXgcl1GkV1S-OeIuqAJE4qDMspVn/nnnnnnnnnnnnn.jpg?width=750"/></a></span></p>
<p class="xp2"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Few day back two bloggers were arrested in Karachi. According to some freethinker sources more than 21 freethinkers were sent to jail. A judge of Islamabad high court has started a huge campaign against all freethinkers and people are being accused of blasphemy on a daily basis. </span></p>
<p class="xp2"><span class="font-size-5"> <a href="http://api.ning.com:80/files/hvlJDVDxYpWTeJ8ROZe8fPqDE5itPS9mQvbgufRyeONnyS*wUCyvFyYI*Aw5heclcASYka0MuK6TjTkPgBvhb3FNtu2Igkon/8K2xw3OS.jpg" target="_self"><img width="240" class="align-full" src="http://api.ning.com:80/files/hvlJDVDxYpWTeJ8ROZe8fPqDE5itPS9mQvbgufRyeONnyS*wUCyvFyYI*Aw5heclcASYka0MuK6TjTkPgBvhb3FNtu2Igkon/8K2xw3OS.jpg"/></a></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span class="font-size-5">According to media reports two guys who were arrested in Karachi one of them is Ayaz Nizami. I know Ayaz Nizami for more than 4 years. He is the man of wisdom I have read most of his posts in my last four years. He never abused any religious personality including the prophet of Islam. He debates &amp; criticises on the very basic issues of Islamic theology. Famous freethinkers’ website <a href="http://www.realisticapproch.org/">www.realisticapproch.org</a> has already been banned in Pakistan.</span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span class="font-size-5"><a href="http://api.ning.com:80/files/hvlJDVDxYpWe4ls9jgKamD5Y1ITtlLGWX4ezo3FL9UQOP8HRjGGKkN1ElrnlPmCnUk7ApfzP0S8kG2QryNLvtNPy2TvwzG12/17498651_1759393501056203_3164434416784036757_n.jpg" target="_self"><img width="655" height="241" class="align-full" src="http://api.ning.com:80/files/hvlJDVDxYpWe4ls9jgKamD5Y1ITtlLGWX4ezo3FL9UQOP8HRjGGKkN1ElrnlPmCnUk7ApfzP0S8kG2QryNLvtNPy2TvwzG12/17498651_1759393501056203_3164434416784036757_n.jpg?width=750"/></a></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span class="font-size-5">2 days ago famous Pakistani freethinkers group on Facebook has been banned in Pakistan. Facebook is removing freethinker pages on Pakistani pressure. Our Pakistani authorities never condemned any jihadi page or website even last month there was a suicide attack in Lahore &amp; an Islamic organisation accepted the responsibility on Facebook last year the same Taliban issued fatwa against our pages on social media but nobody noticed.</span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span class="font-size-5">Ayaz Nizami is the founder of Pakistani freethinkers page on Facebook &amp; a very popular figure among the freethinker community on social media. </span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span class="font-size-5"><a href="http://api.ning.com:80/files/hvlJDVDxYpXyhvFqR0jVUWtvOcbU1DmidVZ9pWZ42BJ8rusXjvMoxTHLbZ7GY6WGlSD7IXZabpNJ*-0pURscJTVtzczTC-Tb/IMG_6687.JPG" target="_self"><img width="580" height="325" class="align-full" src="http://api.ning.com:80/files/hvlJDVDxYpXyhvFqR0jVUWtvOcbU1DmidVZ9pWZ42BJ8rusXjvMoxTHLbZ7GY6WGlSD7IXZabpNJ*-0pURscJTVtzczTC-Tb/IMG_6687.JPG?width=750"/></a></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span class="font-size-5">Two days ago Muslim extremist started hashtag on twitter #HangAyazNizami in this trend religious people are expressing their views against freethinkers Atheists in Pakistan plus calling us western agents &amp; abusing. In past many of them openly supported Taliban &amp; other terrorist outfits but Pakistani state never took any action against them.</span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span class="font-size-5"> </span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Yesterday Senate chairman Raza Rabbani agreed that sectarian &amp; religious intolerance has been supported by Pakistani establishment.</span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span class="font-size-5">All Muslim sects are agree to kill all the Ex Muslims leaving Islam is considered a blasphemy even the jihadi judge who ordered to start crackdown against freethinkers started weeping when some posts of freethinkers were presented before him. Last week a program was telecasted about his corruption was banned for three days. He say whether his seat is taken on corruption charges or not he will not bear any criticism against Islam &amp; prophet. This judge has become a hero. People are posting his images and showing their love for him. </span></p>
<p class="xp2"><span class="font-size-5"><a href="http://api.ning.com:80/files/hvlJDVDxYpWrjlEB5AvDAWMAho3K64IDCIxht8gITjQd4rtSzueixc3uzoBanrYI8W49IWBlsmKKMKgNjPvHnkh*ussEef07/1111.jpg" target="_self"><img width="468" height="281" class="align-full" src="http://api.ning.com:80/files/hvlJDVDxYpWrjlEB5AvDAWMAho3K64IDCIxht8gITjQd4rtSzueixc3uzoBanrYI8W49IWBlsmKKMKgNjPvHnkh*ussEef07/1111.jpg"/></a></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span class="font-size-5">People want freethinkers to be trialled under black blasphemy law. They are abusing and reporting all freethinkers. They tried to report my page after that i unpublished it on Facebook &amp; waiting for the good time many people are deactivating their accounts. All freethinker atheist community around the globe is raising voice in the favour of Ayaz Nizami I think if UN takes notice of this state crime it would be very helpful for the safety of all free thinkers otherwise this victimisation of freethinkers would never stop in Pakistan</span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span class="font-size-5"> </span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span class="font-size-5">As Micheal Nugent says "You have rights-- you beliefs do not". We should respect each other but if somebody criticises my beliefs &amp; my ideology compels me to kill him, then I don’t think I need any prophet, I need a psychiatrist.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>Seraphims and Cherubimstag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-03-27:1982180:BlogPost:16215312017-03-27T06:04:55.000ZFred Hamptonhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/FredHampton
<p><span class="font-size-4">Or, "Saran Wrap Fans and Cherry Bumbs".</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4">Yes, and I always get so confused as to 'seraphims' and 'cherubims'(try saying that one 3 times fast, wow, what a tongue twister). 'Seraphims' have, like, Saran Wrap for wings, right, and 'cherubims' are like super chubby li'l babies with curly white hair, I think--also, with the obligatory wings. They live in the clouds, or stand on top of them or something, which begs the question,…</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4">Or, "Saran Wrap Fans and Cherry Bumbs".</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4">Yes, and I always get so confused as to 'seraphims' and 'cherubims'(try saying that one 3 times fast, wow, what a tongue twister). 'Seraphims' have, like, Saran Wrap for wings, right, and 'cherubims' are like super chubby li'l babies with curly white hair, I think--also, with the obligatory wings. They live in the clouds, or stand on top of them or something, which begs the question, "why do they need the wings"? But it's good that they stay in the clouds, because I wouldn't want one a them comin' on down yonder har' and taking my goddam pet angel's <em>JAWB!</em> That would be far worse than an invasion of the alleged, 'Alien Anchor Babies'!</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4">It is said they they exist in a hierarchy with other angels of their stock and breed, but they themselves like to refer to it as their 'Li'l ol' Collective'. If I'm not mistaken, 'Collective' spend most or all of their time singing in a blissful choir and they perform(for free of charge of course since, like on Earth, nobody in the entire known Universe likes to pay for music) like at some <em>Etheric Disco</em> where they dance and dance some more , Euro-Techno style, and drink booze and laugh and partay and all in all have a ghey ol' time, which is not to say they ARE ghey, no, <em>not ghey at all!</em> They are putting out some MP3 singles soon, to try and make some $ to support there insatiable booze habit. They make their 'Big ol' Daddy' smile! </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4">The reason they do so much singing is, well, they likey to sing, <em>alot-</em>-and who wouldn't(?)--AND, they haven't much else to do as since they, and 'Dad', are omniscient, they therefore are not omnipotent: everything's already happened. That's why they basically have to ignore and/or deflect all the billions of telepathic text messages they receive from one planet earth every damn day--it can be pretty annoying when you are rehearsing...in the choir(I speculate that the reason they sing so much is to ameliorate the frustration they fell for not being able to intervene in the tragedy of human affairs). A few of them, the especially gifted and intelligent ones, also play these cra'y, twinkley toned string instruments called 'harps'. How weird is that?</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4">One day, 'Dad's' fav seraphim accidentally got tangled up in her/his plastic wings and smothered her/himself to death and the entire choir almost lost it, <em>so sadface! :( </em>And they say the rivers of tears raining down from their collective eyes pretty much flooded out the entire Noah's Ark Theme Park in Southern Kentucky(USA)--and took out a bunch of tourists and their kids and PET DOGS! How could 'Dad' let this happen, <em>who kills DOGS, for god's sake?! </em> But, as explained above, 'Dad' saw it coming but could do absolutely nothing to stop it(well, 'Dad', hasn't stopped anything on earth for, like, EVAR!)</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4">But those incredibly cute and normally cheerful li'l angels just kept keeping on, 'soldiering' thru the pain and loss--even though they have no evolved nervous system--and sang SO HARD for the longest time over there fallen angel buddy that they say, if you go out into the wee hours of the night, and close your eyes and listen with great intent, you can almost hear those 'heavenly' tones....</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><a href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/lcr/fsca/img/04400.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.sacred-texts.com/lcr/fsca/img/04400.jpg" class="align-full"/></a></span></p>
<p></p>